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BOOK OF MARTYRS;

1U* OH,

A HISTORY OF THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS, AND TRIUMPHANT

DEATHS, OF MANY OF THE PRIMITIVE

U£,A1U», Ul' MAIN X Ul' 1 illli 1'llljUtl IVtt

* PROTESTANT MARTYRS;

FROM TliBCO^IifENCEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY,

m '

S _, ^^ ^ TO THE LATEST PERIODS OF

PAGAN AND POPISH PERSECUTION.

TO WftICK IS ADDED

AN ACCOUNT OF THE INQUISITION, THE BARTHOLOMEW MASSACRE IN FRANCS

THE GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER LOUIS XIV., THE MASSACRE

IN THE IRISH REBELLION IN THE YEAR 1641.

FOURTH EDITION.

w Anil when he had opened the 5th seal, I saw under the altar the bou1« of
them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which thej
ield."— Rev. vi. 9.

NEW YORK.
CHARLES K. MOORE, 142, NASSAU STREET.

1846

Entered, according, to Act of'Qpngress, in the year
1839, in the clerk's office of the district court of the
Northern District of New York.

PREFACE.

The basis of the following work is a volume pub-
lished as late as the year 1830. Being too extensive
for general use, the editor has attempted such selec-
tion and abridgment, as, in his judgment, would
adapt it to a more-general circulation. He has aim-
ed to execute the work with fidelity, and to present
such a volume to the public, as the true history of
the times would justify. He has prefixed an intro-
duction, designed to show to the reader, that the prin-
ciples of the gospel do not justify persecution in any
form or manner whatever ; and which may serve, at
the same time, to display some of the causes which
have led pagans and papists to evince a bitter hostili-
ty to the true friends of Christianity.

No apology, it is thought, will be deemed necessary
for bringing forward such a work at this time. The
present depressed state of Popery, both in England
and on the continent, is no proof that its leading
principles have been abandoned. By means of vari-
ous revolutions, its power has been shaken, and, from
motives of policy, it has been compelled to cease from
blood ; but, in the language of a distinguished divine
of our own country, " not a principle of the system
has been abandoned. All the wiles of ages are put in
requisition now, to heal the fatal wounds which the

iV PREFACE.

beast has received, and to render the system still
more powerful and terrific."

To the American people, this subject presents it-
self with peculiar interest. Within a short period,
the attention of the Pope of Rome has been directed
to North America, and systematic efforts are now
making, under his immediate patronage, and at his
expense, to introduce and establish this corrupt sys-
tem in various parts of our land. Already Catholic
churches are erecting ; Catholic priests and emissa-
ries are arriving by scores ; publications, designed to
eulogize and recommend the system, are circulating
abroad.

The question presents itself to the American peo-
ple : " Shall this system find encouragement in the
land of the pilgrims ?" Is it not to be feared, from
all the movements of the pope at this day, influencing
monarchs under his control or influence, to send large
sums of money to Roman priests in this country,
which priests have been but a short time from Eu-
rope, to enable them to erect mass-houses, and school-
houses, to establish popery — I say, is it not to be
feared, that a deadly blow is aimed at the root of our
civil and religious principles? May not the question
be asked, — If such a thing was ever known in his-
tory, of hundreds of thousands of idolaters going into
a country, where the people professed to believe in
the Bible, and worshipped the only true God, creator
of heaven and earth, and making a stand, and build-
ing temples for their idols, and immediately claiming
all the privileges of citizens of the United States,
in a short time, from the constitution, notwithstand-

PREFACE. V

ing all the blood of protestants that has been shed
in the different awful massacres, the indescribable
sufferings of the Waldenses and Albigenses, the fires
at Smithfield, and other parts of England ? Yet we
see hundreds and thousands of Roman Catholics,
from one part of our country to the other, who have
emigrated from different parts of Europe. Some pa-
rents have already begun to mourn their credulity in
committing their children to the charge of Jesuit
priests to receive an education, soon finding their love
and affection blunted, and the most endearing ties
severed, notwithstanding the most binding promise?
to make no attempt to change their religion. Thus
tender, unguarded youth and children, have been, by
their own tender parents, given over into the hands
of their destroyers. But some have come away and
exposed them. And shall such a root of bitterness
be planted here ? A holy vigilance should guard well
the approaches of an enemy, whose triumphs here
would be the ruin of that fair fabric which cost our
fathers so much toil to erect. What friend of Zion
does not tremble at only a possibility that papal dark-
ness and papal thraldom may overspread even a part
of our country? It can by no means be believed,
that the wise men who framed our excellent consti-
tution, meant by toleration to tolerate a band of rob-
bers or murderers, (for an inquisition can be consid-
ered no better,) who united together to murder and
rob other people, however religious they might pre-
tend to be ; but they intended to tolerate all persons
in their religious opinions, that did not injure or mo-
test any other person in property or in person : so
l*

Vi PREFACE.

that the constitution secures the privilege to any per-
son to worship as he pleases, so long as he does not
infringe on the privileges of others, to believe and
worship as they think best. The constitution de-
clares equal rights and privileges to all sects, to wor-
ship and believe as they please, while they injure no
other sects or persons. Then, most certainly, an in-
quisition was not intended to be tolerated by our good
and wholesome constitution ; since it will be seen at
once, that if an inquisition was tolerated, no other
sect could be tolerated ; and should papists get the
ascendency, we should soon see what the conse-
quence would be. The great question is before the
American people, — Does our constitution tolerate an
inquisition ? If it does not, whatever appears to ad-
vocate it, or has any dangerous appearance to the
liberty of any person, or are there suspicions that
there are instruments of torture secreted in cells un-
der mass-houses, have not the American people a
good right to examine ? Have they not a right to
search and investigate all these things? If it is an
extraordinary thing for hundreds and thousands of
Roman Catholic emigrants to be among us, should
we not be on our watch? The question may be
asked, — Have not the most powerful kingdoms and
empires of Europe been shaken and brought into
subjection by the intrigues and plots of Jesuit priests ?
and emperors suffering their necks to be trodden upon
by the pope, through fear of their lives, by the pope's
declaring their subjects free from allegiance to their
sovereigns ? And are they not aiming the blow at
our republican institutions, to undermine our civil

PREFACE. Vll

and religious rights and privileges 7 Is it not time
to be on our guard, before they shall gain the ascen-
dency? and we should look around us — the beasts
of prey all about us — and already beginning to seize
their victims — and we should then exclaim with sor-
row, how have we been asleep while surrounded by
our enemies ! and now we cannot prevent the evil.

The following work, it is believed, will present an
antidote to the insidious poison, attempted to be in-
fused into the minds of the unestablished and igno-
rant, by the professors of popery and its self-styled
"liberal abettors" It is only necessary that the vol-
ume should be carefully and candidly read to con-
vince us that the papal system is not that harmless,
innocent thing, which some would represent. We
wish not, indeed, that the papists should be perse-
cuted ; we would say, protect them in their private
capacity, wherever they exist in the land ; but beware
of so encouraging them, as to bring the American
people under their temporal and spiritual domination.

It may be said, indeed it is said, that the perse-
cuting spirit of popery has passed away. But let it
be remembered that persecution is inseparable from
it — is its very essence. A Church, which pretends
to be infallible, will always seek the destruction of
those who dissent from it. Until some further proof
is given to the world, than has yet been given of the
more mild and pacific spirit of popery, we shall be-
lieve that it is still as intolerant as when it spread its
desolating ravages through the unoffending valleys
of Piedmont ; or, at a subsequent period, lighted up
the consuming fires of Smithfield.

INDEX.

A.

Abyssinia, persecutions in, 206.

Africa, persecutions in, 67, 81, 95.

Alban, first British martyr, 88.

Albigenses, persecutions of, 138, — success of, 148.

Alphage, account of, 125.

Apostles, lives, sufferings, and martyrdom of the, 46.

Arian heretics, persecutions by the, 112.

Arras, martyrdom at, 157.

Articles, act of the six, 281.

Askew, Anne, martyrdom of, 285.

Assassination plot, account of the, 427.

Auto da Fe at Madrid, 166, 169.

B.

Barbary, persecutions in the states of, 211.
Bezieres, siege of, 141.

" courage of the earl of, 142.
Bible, attempts to suppress the, 282.
Bohemia, persecutions in, 190.

Boleyn, Anne, coronation of, as queen of England, 270.
Bonner, bishop, scourging of Thomas Hinshaw by, 362.
Boralli, avarice and injustice of, 134.

C.

Calabria, persecutions in, 212.

Catherine, Infanta of Spain, marriage of, with Henry VIII., 266.
— legality of her marriage doubted by that monarch, 267.
— appeal of, to the pope, 268

Christians, a general sacrifice of, 90.

Constantino, vision of, 104, — victory of, 105, — letter of, to the king
of Persia, in favour of Christians, 111.

Coo, Roger, martyrdom of, 336.

Corneford, John, and others, martyrdom of, 363.

Cranmer, Thomas, account of, 268, — made Archbishop of Canter-
bury, 270, — designs against, 295,—- character of, 349, — re-
cantation of, 354 — death of, ib.

Crete, persecutions in^ 75.

Cyprian, account of, 81.

Cyril, martyrdom of, 74.

X INDEX.

D.

Dauphiny, persecutions in, 135.
Dominic, author of the inquisition, 133.

Dominicans and Franciscans, the most zealous friends of the in-
quisition, 159.

R

Earl Simon defeated by the Albigenses, 153.

Edward VI., progress of the Reformation in the reign of, 318 — sick-
ness and death of, 3*21.

Elizabeth, princess, birth of, 271, — miraculous preservation of, 360.

Ergland, progress of the Reformation in, in the reign of Henry
VIII., 261.

F.

Fabian, martyrdom of, 72.

Ferdinand, emperor, persecution by, 192.

France, persecution in, 129, — horrible massacre in, A. D. 1572,
183 — persecutions in, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries, 242.

G.

George, St., martyrdom of, 103.

Georgia and Mingrelia, persecutions in, 211.

Germany, persecutions in, 190, 202, 253.

Gore, James, death of, 348.

Goths and Vandals, persecutions by, 119.

Grey, Lady Jane, declaration of, as queen, 323.

Gunpowder plot,.by the Papists, account of the, 392.

H.
Henry IV., submission of, to pope Gregory, 251.
Henry VIII., history of his marriage with Catherine, 266, — with

Anne Boleyn, 269, — sickness and death of, 298.
Hunt, John, condemnation of, 365.
Huss, John, life, sufferings, and martyrdom of, 193.

I.

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, martyrdom of, 57.

Images, impostures of, discovered, 279.

Inquisition, origin of, 133, 159, — mode of torturing in, 173, — bar-
barities of, in Spain and Portugal, 178.

Inquisitor, horrid treachery of an, 179.

Ireland, rise and progress of the protestant religion, and account of
the barbarous massacre in, 401.

Italy, martyrdoms in various parts of, 227.

J.

John, king, surrender of his crown to the pope, 252.

INDEX. XI

Julian, the apostate, persecutions under, 117.
Justin, martyrdom of, 62.

L.

Lateran, council of, 152.

Latimer, Hugh, life, sufferings, and martyrdom of, 337, — burning

of, 342.
Laurence, St., martyrdom of, 80.
Lincolnshire, rebellion in, 279.
Lollards, persecution of, 263.
Louis XIV., inhuman conduct of, 245.
Luther, progress of the doctrines of, 264.

M.

Mahomet, account of, 206.

Mary, accession of, to the throne of England, 321, — coronation of,
326, — sanguinary proceedings of, ib. — death of, 367 — charac-
ter of, 363.

Massacre, horrible, of Christian soldiers, 86, — barbarous, of protest-
ants in Ireland, 401.

Maximus and Licinius, death of, 105.

Molinos, Michael de, persecution of, 236, — sentence against, 241.

Monasteries, general visitations of the, 277.

N.
Naples, martyrdom in, 102.
Netherlands, persecutions in the, 203.
Northumberland, duke of, beheaded, 327.

O.

Orange, assassination of the prince of, 204.
Origen, account of, 77.

P.

Paul, persecution of, 114.

Perpetua, singular fortitude of, 67.

Persecution, the. first primitive, under Nero ; 53, — second, under Do-
mitian, 54, — third, under the Roman emperors, 56, — fourth,
under the same, 59, — fifth, 66, — sixth, 70, — seventh, 71,
eighth, 78, — ninth, 84,— tenth, 89.

Persecutors, vengeance of God towards, 106.

Persia, persecutions in, 108.

Piedmont, persecutions in the valleys of, 217, — in the 17th cen-
tury, 231.

Policy, Margaret, first female martyr in England, 333.

Polycarpus, martyrdom of, 60.

Pope, power of, rejected by the English Parliament, 275.

Popes, causes of their great -ascendency, 243.

Portugal, inquisition of, 170.

a.

Ctuietists, persecutions of the, 240.

XU INDEX.

R.

Reformation, progress of the, in the reign of Henry VIIL, 261, —
advocates of, favoured by the English court, 276, — progress
of, in the reign of Edward VI., 318.

Rhodes, attack on, 208.

Ridley, Nicholas, martyrdom of, 337, — burning of, 342.

Rogers, John, martyrdom of, 328.

S.
Saluces, persecutions in the marquisate of, 230.
Saviour, history of, 41.
Savoy, noble conduct of the duke of, 218.
Schism in the Church of Rome, 255.
Scotland, persecution in, 301.
Simeon, martyrdom of, 109.

T.

Theodotus, martyrdom of, 97.
Thomas Tomkins, martyrdom of, 331.

Toulouse, earl of, persecuted, 139, — excommunicated, 147, — treach-
erously seized, 144, — surrender of, 149, — recovery of, 153.

V. .

Valerian, emperor, fate of, 83.
Venice, persecutions in, 226,
Vienna, siege of, 209.

W.

"Waldenses, persecutions of the, in France, 129, — tenets of, 131,-

sufferings of, 136.
"Waldo, Peter, account of, 130.

"Wickliffe, account of, 254, — translation of the Bible by, 257.
"Wickliflites, burning of, 259.
"Wiseman, William, death of, 348.

"Wishart, George, life, sufferings, and martyrdom of, 301.
"Wolsey, cardinal, character of) 262, — disgraced, 269.

X.

Xist, St., affecting Kistory of the inhabitants of, 213.

Y.

Yorkshire, rebellion in,, 279.

THE LIFE

OF THE

REV. JOHN FOX.

John Fox was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, in
1517, where his parents are stated to have lived in
respectable circumstances. He was deprived of his
father at an early age ; and notwithstanding his mo-
ther soon married again, he still remained under the
paternal roof. From an early display of talents and
inclination to learning, his friends were induced to
send him to Oxford, in order to cultivate and bring
them to maturity. Daring his residence at this place,
he was distinguished for the excellence and acuteness
of his intellect, which was improved by the emulation
of his fellow-collegians, united to an indefatigable
zeal and industry on his part. , These qualities soon
gained him the admiration of all ; and as a reward for
his exertions and amiable conduct, he was chosen
fellow of Magdalen college ; which was accounted a
great honour in the university, and seldom bestowed
unless in cases of great distinction. It appears that
the first display of his genius was in poetry ; and that
he composed some Latin comedies, which are still
extant. But he soon directed bis thoughts to a more
serious subject, the study of the sacred Scriptures :
to divinity, indeed, he applied himself with more fer-
vency than circumspection, and discovered his par-
tiality to the Reformation, which had then commenc-
ed, before he was known to its supporters or to those
who protected them ; a circumstance which proved
to him the source of his first troubles.

He is said to have often affirmed, that the first
matter which occasioned his search into the popish

14 LTFE OP THE REV. JOHN FOX.

doctrine, was, that he saw divers things, most repug-
nant in their nature to one another, forced upon men
at the same time : upon this foundation his resolution
and intended obedience to that church were some-
what shaken, and by degrees a dislike to the rest took
place.

His first care was to look into both the ancient and
modern history of the church; to ascertain its begin-
ning and progress ; to consider the causes of all those
controversies which in the mean time had sprung up,
and diligently to weigh their effects, solidity, infirm-
ities, &c.

Before he had attained his thirtieth year, he had
studied the Greek and Latin fathers, and other learn-
ed authors, the transactions of the councils, and de-
crees of the consistories, and had acquired a very
competent skill in the Hebrew language. In these
occupations he frequently spent a considerable part,
or even the whole of the night ; and in order to un-
bend his mind after such incessant study, he would
resort to a grove near the collage, a place much fre-
quented by the students in the evening, on account
of its sequestered gloominess. In these solitary walks
he has been heard to ejaculate heavy sobs and sighs,
and with tears to pour forth his prayers to God.
These nightly retirements, in the sequel, gave rise to
the first suspicion of his alienation from the church
of Rome. Being pressed for an explanation of this
alteration in his conduct, he scorned to call in fiction
to his excuse; he stated his opinions; and was, by
the sentence of the college, convicted > condemned as
an heretic^ and expelled.

His friends, upon the report of this circumstance,
were highly offended, and especially his father-in-
law, who was now grown altogether implacable, ei-
ther through a real hatred conceived against him for
this cause, or pretending himself aggrieved, that he
might now, with more show of justice, or at least
with more security, withhold from Mr. Fox his pa-

LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX. 15

ternal estate ; for he knew it could not be safe for
one publicly hated, and in danger of the law, to seek
a remedy for his injustice.

When he was thus forsaken by his own friends, a
refuge offered itself in the house of Sir Thomas Lucy,
of Warwickshire, by whom he was sent for, to in-
struct his children. In this house he afterwards mar-
ried. But the fear of the popish inquisitors hasten-
ed his departure thence ; as they were not contented
to pursue public offences, but began also to dive into
the secrets of private families. He now began to
consider what was best to be done to free himself
from further inconvenience, and resolved either to
go to his wife's father, or to his father-in-law.

His wife's father was a citizen of Coventry, whose
heart was not alienated from him, and he was more
likely to be well entertained, for his daughter's sake.
He resolved to go first to him; and, in the mean-
while, by letters, to try whether his father-in-law
would receive him or not. This he accordingly did,
and he received for answer, " that it seemed to him
a hard condition to take one into his house whom he
knew to be guilty, and condemned for a capital of-
fence ; neither was he ignorant what hazard he should
undergo in so doing ; he would however, show him-
self a landsman, and neglect his own danger. If he
would alter his mind, he might come, on condition
to stay as long as he himself desired ; but if he could
not be persuaded to that, he must content himself
with a shorter stay, and not bring him and his mother
into danger."

No condition was to be refused ; besides, he was
secretly advised by his mother to come, and not to
fear his father-in-law's severity ; " for that, perchance,
it was needful to write as he did, but when occasion
should be offered, he would make recompense for
his words with his actions." In fact, he was better
received by both of them than he had hoped for.

16 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN F x*

By these means he kept himself concealed, for
some time, and afterwards made a journey to London,
in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. Here,
be]pg unknown, he was in much distress, and was
even reduced to the danger of being starved to death,
had not Providence interfered in his favour, in the
following manner:

One day as Mr. Fox was sitting in St. Paul's church,
exhausted with long fasting, a stranger took a seat by
his side, and courteously saluted him, thrust a sum of
money into his hand, and bade him cheer up hisspirits;
at the same time informing him, that in a few days
new prospects would present themselves for his fu-
ture subsistence. Who this stranger was, he could
never learn ; but at the end of three days, he receiv-
ed an invitation from the duchess of Richmond to
undertake the tuition of the children of the earl of
Surrey, who, together with his father the duke of Nor-
folk, was imprisoned in the Tower, by the jealousy
and ingratitude of the king. The children thus con-
fided to his care were, Thomas, who succeeded to
the dukedom ; Henry, afterwards earl of Northamp-
ton ; and Jane, who became countess of Westmore-
land. In the performance of his duties he fully satis-
fied the expectation of the duchess, their aunt.

These halcyon days continued during the latter
part of the reign of Henry VIII. and the five years of
the reign of Edward VI. till Mary came to the crown,
who, soon after her accession, gave all power into the
hands of the papists.

At this time Mr. Fox, who was still under the pro
tcction of his noble pupil, the duke, began to excitf
the envy and hatred of many, particularly Dr. Gar
diner, then bishop of Winchester, who^in the sequel
became his most violent enemy.

Mr. Fox, aware of this, and seeing the dreadfe
persecution then commencing, began to thing of qui.
ting the kingdom. As soon as the duke knew his in-
tention, he endeavoured to persuade him to rem; hi

LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX. 17

and his arguments were so powerful, and given with
so much sincerity, that he gave up the thought of
abandoning his asylum for the present.

At that time the bishop of Winchester was very in-
timate with the duke, (by the patronage of whose
family he had risen to the dignity he then enjoyed,)
and frequently waited on him to present his service ;
when he several times requested that he might see his
old tutor. At first the duke denied his request, at
one time alleging his absence, at another, indisposi-
tion. At length it happened that Mr. Fox, not know-
ing the bishop was in the house, entered the room
where the duke and he were in discourse ; and see-
ing the bishop, withdrew. Gardiner asked who that
was, the duke answered, " his physician, who was
somewhat uncourtly, as being new come from the
university." — " I like his countenance and aspect
very N well," replied the bishop, " and when occasion
offers, I will send for him." The duke understood f
that ^speech as the messenger of some approaching
danger ; and now he himself thought it high tim€
for Mr. Fox to quit the city, and even the country.
He accordingly caused every thing necessary for his
flight to be provided in silence, by sending one of his
servants to Ipswich to hire a bark, and prepare all
the requisites for his departure. He also fixed on
the house of one of his servants, who was a farmer,
where he might lodge till the wind became favoura-
ble ; and every thing being in readiness, Mr. Fox
took leave of his noble patron, and with his wife,
who was pregnant at the time, secretly departed for
the ship.

The vessel was scarcely under sail, when a most
violent storm came on, which lasted all the day and
night, and the next day drove them back to the port
from which they had departed. During the time
that the vessel had been at sea, an officer, despatch-
ed by the bishop of Winchester, had broken open
the house of the farmer, with a warrant to apprehend
2*

18 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX.

Mr. Fox wherever he might be found, and bring him
back to the city. On hearing this news, he hired a
horse under the pretence of leaving the town imme-
diately ; but secretly returned the same night, and
agreed with the captain of the vessel to sail for any
place as soon as the wind should shift, only desiring
him to proceed, and not to doubt but that God would
prosper his undertaking. The mariner suffered
himself to be persuaded, and within two days landed
his passengers in safety at Nieuport.

After spending a few days at that place, Mr. Fox
set out for Basle, where he found a number of Eng-
lish refugees, who had quitted their country to avoid
the cruelty of the persecutors ; with these he associ-
ated, and began to write his " History of the Acts
and Monuments of the Church," which was first pub-
lished in Latin at Basle, and shortly after in English.

In the mean time the reformed religion began again
to flourish in England, and the -popish faction much
to decline, by the death of queen Mary ; which in-
duced the greater number of the protestant exiles to
return to their native country.

Among others, on the accession of Elizabeth to
the throne, Mr. Fox returned to England ; where, on
his arrival, he found a faithful and active friend in
his late pupil, the duke of Norfolk, till death depriv-
ed him of his benefactor : after which event, Mr.
Fox inherited a pension bequeathed to him by the
duke, and ratified by his son the earl of Suffolk.

Nor did the good man's successes stop here. On
being recommended to the queen, by her secretary
of state, the great Cecil, her majesty granted him the
prebendary of Shipton, in the cathedral of Salisbury,
which was, in a manner, forced upon him ; for it
was with difficulty that he could be persuaded to ac-
cept of it.

On his resettlement in England, he employed him-
self in revising and enlarging his admirable Martyr-
ology. With prodigious pains, and constant study,

LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX. 19

he completed that celebrated work in eleven years.
For the sake of greater correctness, he wrote every
line of this vast book with his own hand, and tran-
scribed all the records and papers himself. But, in
consequence of such excessive toil, leaving no part
of his time free from study, nor affording himself ei-
ther the repose or recreation which nature required,
his health was so reduced, and his person became so
emaciated and altered, that such of his friends and
relations as only conversed with him occasionally,
could scarcely recognise his person. Yet, though
he grew daily more exhausted, he proceeded in his
studies as briskly as ever, nor would he be persuaded
to diminish his accustomed labours. The papists,
foreseeing how detrimental his history of their errors
and cruelties would prove to their cause, had re-
course to every artifice to lessen the reputation of
his work ; but their malice was of signal service,
both to Mr. Fox himself, and to the church of God
at large, as it eventually made his book more intrin-
sically valuable, by inducing him to weigh, with the
most scrupulous attention, the certainty of the facts
which he recorded, and the validity of the authorities
from which he drew his information.

But while he was thus indefatigably employed in
promoting the cause of truth, he did not neglect the
other duties of his station : lie was charitable, hu-
mane, and attentive to the wants, both spiritual and
temporal, of his neighbours. With the view of being
more extensively useful, although he had no desire to
cultivate the acquaintance of the rich and great on his
own account, he did not decline the friendship of those
in a higher rank who proffered it, and never failed to
employ his influence with them in behalf of the poor
and needy. In consequence of his well known pro-
bity and charity, he was frequently presented with
sums of money by persons possessed of wealth, which
he accepted and distributed among those who were
distressed. He would also occasionally attend the ta-

20 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX.

ble of his friends, not so much for the sake of plea-
sure, as from civility, and to convince them that his
absence was not occasioned by a fear of being expos-
ed to the temptations of the appetite. In short, his
character, as a man and as a Christian, was without
reproach.

Of the esteem in which he was held, the names of
the following respectable friends and noble patrons,
will afford ample proof. It has been already men-
tioned that the attachment of the duke of Norfolk was
so great to his tutor, that he granted him a pension
for life ; he also enjoyed the patronage of the earls
of Bedford and Warwick, and the intimate friendship
of sir Francis Walsingham (secretary of state,) sir
Thomas and Mr. Michael Hennage, of whom he was
frequently heard to observe, that sir Thomas hadevery
requisite for a complete courtier, but that Mr. Mi-
chael possessed all the merits of his brother besides his
own, still untainted by the court. He was on very in-
timate and affectionate terms with sir Drue Drtiry ;
sir Francis Drake ; Dr. Grindal, archbishop of Can-
terbury ; Dr. Elmar, bishop of London ; Dr. Pilk-
ington, bishop of Durham; and Dr. No well, dean of
St. Paul's. Others of his most intimate acquaintan-
ces and friends were, Doctors Humphrey, Whitaker,
and Fulk ; Mr. John Crowly, and Mr. Baldwin Col-
lins. Among the eminent citizens, we find he was
much venerated by sir Thomas Gresham, sir Thomas
Roe, alderman Bacchus, Mr. Smith. Mr. Dale, Mr.
Sherrington, &c. &c.

At length, having long served both the church and
the world by his ministry, by his pen, and by the un-
sullied lustre of a benevolent, useful, and holy life,
he meekly resigned his soul to Christ, on the 18th of
April, 1587, being then in the seventieth year of his
age. He was interred in the chancel of St. Giles's,
Cripplegate ; of which parish he had been, in the be-
ginning of Elizabeth's reign, for some time vicar.

The Lord had given him a foresight of his depart-

LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN FOX. 21

tire ; and so fully was he assured that the time was just
at hand when his soul should quit the body, that (pro-
bably to enjoy unmolested communion with God, and
to have no worldly interruptions in his last hours) he
purposely sent his two sons from home, though he lov-
ed them with great tenderness ; and, before they re-
turned, his spirit, as he had foreseen would be the
case, had flown to heaven.

His death occasioned great lamentations throughout
the city, and his funeral was honoured with a great
concourse of people, each of whom appeared to be
wail the loss of a father or a brother.

INTRODUCTION.

That the introduction of Christianity into tho
worjd, considering the character of its Divine Foun-
der, and the nature and tendency of its doctrines and
precepts, should have ever given birth to persecution,
may well appear surprising. The Son of God is de-
scribed to us, as "meek and lowly," as "holy and
harmless ;" never did any other on earth give so il-
lustrious an example of benevolence, patience, and
kindness. So far from manifesting a persecuting
spirit himself, he suffered reproaches and indignities
without a murmur. " When reviled, he reviled not
again ;" but gave a high and noble exhibition of that
self-denial, meekness, and fortitude, which he enjoin-
ed his followers to practise after him. Nay, so far
from encouraging any methods of persecution, he
rebuked and put a stop to every appearance of them.
Thus, when his disciples would have called down
fire from Heaven, to consume the Samaritans, who
refused to receive him, he rebuked them, saying,
" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; the
Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but
to save them ;" and when one of those who were
with Christ, cut off the ear of one of the high priest's
servants, upon his laying his hands on him, he severe-
ly reproved him: "Put up again thy sword into its
place ; for all they that take the sword, shall perish
with the sword." And, in order to cure his apostles
of their ambition and pride, and to prevent their
claiming undue power, he gave them an example of
great humility and condescension, in washing and
wiping their feet ; and forbid them imitating the
l ' Gentiles, by exercising dominion and authority ;
but whosoever will be great amongst you, let him be

24 INTRODUCTION.

your minister ; and whosoever will be chief amongst
you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and
to give his life for many." And as the Jewish teach-
ers took on them the name of Rabbi, to denote their
power over the consciences of those they instructed,
he commanded his disciples : " Be ye not called Rab-
bi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are
brethren ; and call no man father, for one is your
father which is iu Heaven ; but he that is greatest
among you, shall be your servant." And it is, more-
over, certain, that were Christ's doctrines and pre-
cepts regarded and practised as they should be,
universal benevolence would be the certain effect,
and eternal peace and union would reign amongst
the members of the Christian Church. For if there
be any commands of certain clearness, any precepts
of evident obligation in the gospel, they are such as
refer to the exercise of love, and the maintenance of
universal charity. " Blessed are the meek" we hear
the Saviour proclaiming, " for they shall inherit the
earth. Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall
be called the children of God." And in another
place, describing the nature of religion in general,
he tells us, that the love of God is the first command-
ment ; and the second like unto it — thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. This he enjoins upon his
disciples, as his peculiar command : " This is my
commandment, that ye love one another, as I have
loved you." Nay, love was that by which his follow-
ers were to be distinguished from all others. " A
new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one
another ; as I have loved you, that ye, also, love one
another. By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Thus
it is evident, that there is nothing in the life of Jesus
Christ, in his doctrines, or precepts, which gives any
countenance to those wicked methods of propagat-
ing and supporting religion, that some of his pretend-

INTRODUCTION. 25

fid followers have made use "of. but the strongest di-
rections to the contrary,

Christ commanded his disciples to love their ene-
mies ; and to do good to them that hated them ; and
to pray for them that despitefully used them. And
he told them that some of them would be put to
death for his name's sake. And when he himself was
suffering on the cross, he gave his disciples this strik-
ing example of his forgiving spirit toward his mur-
derers, while he thus prayed: " Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do." And we see that
his apostles possessed the same spirit. Stephen
prayed for his murderers when they were stoning
him to death; he made no resistance; and rill the
apostles manifested the same Christlike spirit toward
their persecutors.

How inconsistent then, to pretend to the Christian
name, and yet justify persecution and bloodshed to
promote Christianity, while we have both the precept
and example both of Christ and his apostles, that
they did not so much as resist in the least degree
*hose who were murdering them.

The case of Annanias and Sapphira, adduced by
Seza to justify the punishment of heretics, how im-
pertinently alleged ! and that of Ely mas the sorcer-
er equally so. Annanias and Sapphira were struck
dead by the immediate hand of God. Peter gave
them suitable reproof for their wickedness, but he
laid no violent hands on them ; but God saw fit to
make them an example for their wickedness, and
struck them dead. Elymas was a Jewish sorcerer,
who sought to turn the deputy from the faith that
Paul was preaching to him and instructing him in :
the sorcerer endeavoured to hinder his conversion.
Paul therefore, in order to confirm his own mission,
and to prevent the deputy's being deceived by the
fraud and sorceries of Elymas, after severely rebuking
him for his wickedness in opposing the gospel, tells
him that God would decide the controversy by imme-
3

26 INTRODUCTION.

diately striking the sorcerer blind, which came to pass
immediately to the full conviction of the deputy, who
then became established iu the Christian faith. But
there is nothing in all this to justify persecution, nor
in any part of the New Testament.

To the candid and unprejudiced mind, the preced-
ing view of the subject will be sufficient, it is believ-
ed, to justify the conclusion, that neither the doctrines,
precepts, nor conduct of Christ, nor those of his apos-
tles, can in the remotest degree give any sanction to
the spirit nor to any of the forms of persecution.
But to the omniscient eye of Christ, it was not con-
cealed, that the promulgation of Christianity would
lead to persecutions of the most grievous kind, both
from opposers and pretended friends. To these ap-
proaching persecutions ; to these most bitter and griev-
ous days of trial and calamity to his faithful followers,
Christ, as a true prophet of God, often alluded. He
spoke of them as certain, as seasons which would try
the faith, and sincerity, and patience of his followers ;
at the same time, he bid them " put a heavenly cour-
age on ;" since, by an exhibition of faith, fortitude, and
constancy, they would give proof of the sustaining
power of his gospel, and through such abundant tribu-
lations would be prepared for a more abundant weight
of glory. To his disciples, who would lead in " the
noble army of Martyrs," he strongly represented the
dangers which would come upon them. " They will
deliver you," says he, "up to councils; they will
scourge you in the synagogues ; you shall be hated
of all men for my sake ; nay, the time corneth, when
they will think they are doing God service, by putting
you to death." And alluding to a consequence of the
promulgation of the gospel, viz. the prevalence of per-
secution, the result of pride, envy, malice, and a love
of power, he says, " Think not that I come to send
peace, but a sword, for I am come to set a man at va-
riance with his father, and the daughter against her
mother," &c. And again, " £ am come to send fire
on the earth : and what will I, if it be already kind-

INTRODUCTION. 27

led ? Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on
earth ? I tell you nay, but rather division." How
is it explained by Christ himself? Why in the very
next words : " For from henceforth," i. e. upon the
publication of my religion and gospel, " there shall be
five in one house divided, three against two, and two
against three," (fee. Can any man need paraphrase
and criticism to explain these passages of any thing
but of that persecution which should befall the preach-
ers and believers of the gospel ? or imagine it to be a
prophetic description of a fire to be blown up by
Christ to consume others, when the whole connection
evidently refers it to a fire, that the opposers of his re-
ligion should blow up, to consume himself and follow-
ers ? Jesus knew it was such a fire, as would first
consume himself. '-lam come to send fire on the
earth ; and what will I, if it be already kindled ?" or,
as the words should be translated, " How do I wish it
was already kindled ? How do I wish it to break
out on my own person, that I might glorify God by
my sufferings and death ?" For as it follows, " I have
a baptism to be baptized with," a baptism with my
own blood \ c: and how am I straitened till it be ac-
complished?" After this account of his own suffer-
ings, he foretels the same should befall his followers :
"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ?
I tell you nay, but rather division ;" i. e. as I myself
must suffer to bear witness to the truth, so after my
decease, such shall be the unreasonable and furious
opposition to my gospel, as shall occasion divisions
amongst the nearest relations, some of whom shall hate
and persecute the other for their embracing my reli-
gion.*

Agreeably to these predictions of our Saviour, soon
after he had himself ascended to heaven, and while
the apostles were yet publishing abroad the doctrine
of Christianity, began those furious persecutions by
the Romans, which for three hundred years, or to

* Chandler's History of Persecution, ul supra*

28 INTRODUCTION.

about the time of Constantine, carried thousands and
tens of thousands by barbarities the most shocking,
and by tortures the most excruciating and terrific, to
their graves ; thus rendering a profession of the gos-
pel almost a sure passport to suffering and death.

As an account of these perilous days — of the deep-
rooted malice and blood-thirsty spirit of barbarians,
urged on by the influence of the powers of darkness,
will be found in the former part of the volume, they
will not be noticed farther in this place. Yet a na-
tural curiosity may lead us to inquire by what means
it happened that the Romans, who were troublesome
to no nation on account of their religion, and who suf-
fered even the Jews to live under their own laws, and
to follow their own method of worship, almost imme-
diately, on the promulgation of Christianity, began to
persecute its professors.

" One of the principal reasons," says Dr. Mosheim,
"of the severity with which the Romans persecuted
the Christians, seems to have been the abhorrence
and contempt with which the latter regarded the re-
ligion of the empire, which was so intimately connect-
ed with the form, and, indeed, with the very essence
of its political constitution. For, though the Romans
gave an unlimited toleration to all religions, which
had nothing in their tenets dangerous to the common-
wealth, yet they would not permit that of their ances-
tors, which was established by the laws of the state,
to be turned into derision, nor the people to be drawn
away from their attachment to it. These, however,
were the two things which thejChristians were charg-
ed with, and that justly, though to their honour. They
dared to ridicule the absurdities of the Pagan super-
stition, and they were ardent and assiduous in gaining
proselytes to the truth. Nor did they only attack the
religion of Rome, but also all the different shapes and
forms, under which superstition appeared in the vari-
ous countries, where they exercise their ministry.
From hence the Romans concluded, that the Chris-

INTRODUCTION. 29

tian sect was not only unsupportably daring and ar-
rogant, but moreover an enemy to the public tranquil-
lity, and every way proper to excite civil wars and
commotions in the empire. It is, probably, on this ac-
count, that Tacitus reproaches them with the odious
character of haters of mankind, a.nd styles the religion
of Jesus a destructive superstition ; and that Sueto-
nius speaks of the Christians, and their doctrines, in
terms of the same kind.

"Another circumstance that irritated the Romans
against the Christians, was the simplicity of their wor-
ship, which resembled in nothing the sacred rites of
any other people. The Christians had neither sacri-
fices, nor temples, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacer-
dotal orders ; and this was sufficient to bring upon
them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who
imagined that there could be no religion without these.
Thus, they were looked upon as a sort of atheists ; and,
by the Roman laws, those who were chargeable with
atheism were declared the pests of human society.
But this was not all ; the sordid interests of a multi-
tude of lazy and selfish priests, were immediately con-
nected with the ruin and oppression of the Christian
cause. The public worship of such an immense num-
ber of deities was a source of subsistence, and even of
riches, to the whole rabble of priests and augurs, and
also to a multitude of merchants and artists. And,
as the progress of the gospel threatened the ruin of
this religious traffic, and the profit it produced, this
raised up new enemies to the Christians, and arm-
ed the rage of mercenary superstition against their
lives and their cause."*

To this explanation given by Mosheim, may be ad-
ded, in substance, the explanation of bishop Warbur-
ton, wheh is still more lucid and satisfactory. Inter-
community of worship, according to the latter, was a
principle, which run through the whole pagan world.
Every religion was tolerated, while its advocates claim-

* Mosheim j vol. i. p. 72.
3*

30 INTRODUCTION.

cd for it no exclusive superiority. Hence it was not
until after the return of the Jews from captivity, that
they were treated by their neighbours, and afterwards
by the Greeks and Romans, with hatred and con-
tempt; since they seem not so openly to have claim-
ed that their religion was the only true one in the world.
This pretension to superiority and to exclusive divine
origin, was the grand cause of the general odium cast
upon the Jews by the Pagan world.

When Christianity arose, though on the foundation
of Judaism, it was at first received by Pagan nations
with complacency. The gospel was favourably heard,
and the superior evidence with which it was enforced,
inclined men, long habituated to pretended revela-
tions, to receive it into the number of the establish-
ed. Accordingly we find one Roman Emperor in-
troducing it among his closet religions ; and another
proposing to the Senate to give it a more public en-
tertainment. But, when it was found to carry its
pretensions higher, and, like the Jewish, to claim the
title of the only true o??e, then it was, that it began to
incur the same hatred and contempt with the Jewish.
But, when it went stiil further, and urged the neces-
sity of all men forsaking their own national religions
and embracing the gospel, this so shocked the Pagans
that it soon brought upon itself the bloody storm
which followed. Thus you have the true origin of
persecution for religion ; a persecution not committed,
but undergone by the Christian church.*

The Pagan persecutions appear to have continu-
ed until about the time of Constantine, during whose
reign the fall of Paganism began* to take place, and
was nearly consummated in that of Theodosius.

Having noticed the persecutions which occurred
under the reign of Paganism, and assigned the causes
which led those nations which were Pagan, so pow-
erfully to enlist themselves against Christianity, we
shall next notice the persecutions which were com-
* Divine Legation of Moses, vol. ii. 6, 2, § 6, &c.

INTRODUCTION.

31

menced and carried forward under the influence of
the Roman Hierarchy. These persecutions, the
reader will notice, occupied by far the greater part
of the volume. As these persecutions are of a more
recent date, as they were conducted by the pretended
friends of Christianity, and as the spirit of that system
still prevails in nearly every country on the globe,
no apology, it is thought, will be necessary, for occu-
pying so" large a space in the developement of the
spirit and tendency of the papal system.

The rise of such a power is clearly predicted iu
the scriptures. Even in the days of the apostles,
there were not wanting symptoms of the approaching
wide-spread corruption.

When the Apostle Paul delivered to the elders
of the church at Ephesus, a solemn warning to take
heed to themselves, and to the flock over which the
Holy Ghost had made them overseers, he adds, as
the reason of it, "for I know this, that after my de-
parture shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock ; also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away dis-
ciples after them." Acts xx. 29, 30. The jealousy
and fear which he entertained relative to the influ-
ence of false teachers, is manifest in the following
passage. " But I fear, lest by any means, as the ser-
pent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For such are false apostles, deceitful work-
ers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ : and no wonder, for Satan himself is trans-
formed into an angel of light ; therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed into minis-
ters of righteousness." (2 Cor. xi, 3, 13, 14, 15.)
The same general caution against the effects which
should proceed from false teachers, is very plainly
given by the apostle Peter. " But there were false
prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring

32 INTRODUCTION.

in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift
destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be
evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they
with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose
judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not." 2 Pet. ii. 1 — 3. To
these passages, and many others that might be adduc-
ed, as calculated to awaken the attention of Chris-
tians to the dangers they should be exposed to from
corrupt teachers, we may particularly add the follow-
ing, as it not only foretels, but describes, the nature
of the apostacy that should take 'place, and at a pe-
riod remote from the time when the predictions
were delivered. " Now the spirit speaketh express-
ly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having theifneon-
sciences seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry,
and commanding to abstain from meats, which God
hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them
who believe and know the truth." 1 Tim. iv. 1 — 3.
Again. " This know also, that in the last days peril-
ous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, proud, blasphemers, disobedi-
ent to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God ; — having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof." 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 3. But of all the
predictions contained in the New^Testament, the
most particular and express description of the anti-
christian power that should arise under the Christian
name, is the following : " Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be
not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled ; neither by

INTRODUCTION. 33

spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as tbat
the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive
you by any means : for that day shall not come ex-
cept there be a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the tem-
ple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Re-
member ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told
you these things ? And now ye know what withhold-
eth that he might be revealed in his time. For the
mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he who
now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the
way ; and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume witli the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming :
even him whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power, and signs and lying wonders ; and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish, because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. ii.
1—10.

" In this representation of the apostacy from the
purity of the Christian faith and its influence, which
terminated in the man of sin sitting in the temple of
God, we may notice the following particulars :

" 1. That the apostle describes its origin as taking
place in his own day. 'The mystery of iniquity-
doth already work,' verse 7. The seed was then
sown, idolatry was already stealing into the churches.
1 Cor. x. 14. A voluntary humility and worshipping
of angels. Col. ii. 18. Men of corrupt minds, desti-
tute of the truth, supposing that gain was godliness,
and teaching things which they ought not, for filthy
lucre's sake. Men of this class appear to have early
abounded, and, as acting not wholly in direct oppo-
sition to Christianity, but corrupting it in the way of
deceit and hypocrisy. During the whole progress
towards the full revelation of the man of sin, there

34. INTRODUCTION.

was no direct disavowal of the truth of Christianity ;
it was a form of godliness without the power of it.

" 2. There is an evident intimation in this passage,
of an obstacle or hinderance in the way of this power
being fully revealed. i And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might he revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only
he who now Ietteth will let, until he be taken out of
the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed,'
&c. ver. 6, 7. Without going into any minute and
critical examination of these verses, it is obvious that
the wicked power which is here the subject of the
apostle's discourse, and denominated the man of sin,
•had not been fully displayed, and that there existed
some obstacle to a complete revelation of the mystery
of iniquity. The apostle uses a particular caution
when hinting at it ; but the Thessalonians, he says,
knew of it, probably from the explanation he had
given them verbally, when he was with them. It can
scarcely be questioned, that the hinderance or obstacle
referred to in these words, was the heathen or Pagan
Roman government, which acted as a restraint upon
the pride and domination of the clergy, through whom
the man of sin ultimately arrived at his power and
authority, as will afterwards appear. The extreme
caution which the apostle manifests in spaeking of
this restraint, renders it not improbable that it was
something relating to the higher powers, for we can
easily conceive how improper it would have been, to
declare in plain terms that the existing government
of Rome should come to an end. There is a remark-
able passage in Tertullian's Apology, that may serve
to justify the sense which Protestants put upon these
verses ; and since it was written long before the ac-
complishment of the predictions, it deserves the more
attention. ' Christians,' says he, ' are under a par-
ticular necessity of praying for the emperor, and for
the continued state of the empire ; because we know
that dreadful power which hangs over the world, and

INTRODUCTION. 85

the conclusion of the age, which threatens the most
horrible evils, is restrained by the continuance of the
time appointed for the Roman empire. This is what
we would not experience ; and while we pray that
it may be deferred, we hereby show our good will to
the perpetuity of the Roman state.' From this ex-
tract, it is very manifest that the Christians, even in
Tertullian's time, a hundred and twenty years before
the Pagan government of Rome came to an end,
looked forward to that period as pregnant with ca-
lamity to the cause of Christ ; though it is probable
they did not accurately understand the manner in
which the evils should be brought on the church.
And this, indeed, the event proved to be the case.
For while the long and harassing persecutions which
were carried on by the Pagan Roman emperors con-
tinued, and all secular advantages were on the side
of Paganism, there was little encouragement for any
one to embrace Christianity, who did not discern
spmewhat of its truth and excellence. Many of the
errors, indeed, of several centuries, the fruit of vain
philosophy, paved the way for the events which fol-
lowed ; but the hinderance was not effectually remov-
ed, until Constantino the emperor, on professing him-
self a Christian, undertook to convert the kingdom
of Christ into a kingdom of this world, by exalting
the teachers of Christianity to the same state of afflu-
ence, grandeur, and influence in the empire, as had
been enjoyed by pagan priests and secular officer in
the state. The professed ministers of Jesus having
now a wide field opened to them, for gratifying their
lust of power, wealth, and dignity, the connection
between the Christian faith and the cross was at an
end. What followed was the kingdom of the clergy,
supplanting the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

" 3. It is worthy of observation, in what language
the apostle describes the revelation of the man of
sin when this hinderance, or let, should be removed.

"And then shall that wicked be revealed, whose

36 INTRODUCTION.

coming is after the working of Satan, with all power,
and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceiva-
bleness of unrighteousness in them that perish. " He
had before described this power, and personified him
as " the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is wor-
shipped ; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God."

" Every feature in this description corresponds to
that of a religious power, in the assumption of divine
authority, divine honours, and divine worship ; a pow-
er which should arrogate the prerogatives of the
MOST HIGH, having its seat in the temple or house
of God, and which should be carried on by Satan's
influence, with all deceit, hypocrisy, and tyranny ;
and with this corresponds the figurative representa-
tion given of the same power. Rev. xiii. 5 — 8.".*

Thus clearly predicted in the scriptures is this
mystery of iniquity, and of which during the apostolic
days there were indications of its having begun to
work. From the time of Constantino, however, the
great obstruction, viz., Paganism, which had hitherto
operated against the full" manifestation of the anti-
christian power, being removed, the current of events
brought matters to that state in which the man of sin
was fully revealed, sitting in the temple of God, and
showing himself to be God.

The corruption of Christianity, however, was not
effected in a day. Under Constantine, Christianity
became the religion of the state, in consequence of
this, the power and wealth of the clergy were greatly
augmented. Contests among bishops for pre-emi-
nence became frequent, and were conducted with a
spirit wholly at variance with the genius of the gos-
peb Power now became an engineTof support to dif-
ferent factions, ana the sword of persecution, which
for three centuries had been drawn by the Pagans
against the followers of Christ, the besotted ecclesi-

* Jones. History of the Christian Church, p. 154, &c.

INTRODUCTION. 37

astics employed against each other, in defence of
what was now called the " Holy Catholic Church."

After a long and violent contest between the bish-
ops of Rome, Constantinople, Antidch, and Alexan-
dria, particularly the former two, the bishop of Rome
at length succeeded in triumphing over all others,
being in the year 606 invested with the proud title of
universal bishop. This may be considered as the
date of the establishment of the papal power, al-
though this was not the period of its full growth.

The causes, which contributed to the growth of
this gigantic power, must be sought in the pages of
Ecclesiastical History. It may not be amiss, how-
ever, to notice some of the principal circumstances
which contributed to the lordly sway and extended
influence of the Roman pontiffs, and their clergy,
viz. : the pretended infallibility of the Pope — the de-
crees of councils — the preference given to human com-
positions over the Bible — the introduction of image-
worship — the passion for relics and saints — the sale
of indulgences, and free absolution — the doctrine of
purgatory — the establishment of the order of Jesuits,
and the Inquisition. By these, and other means, the
papal power continued for several centuries to gather
strength, until, at length, it reached a point to which
the annals of history furnish no parallel. Whoever
ventured to lift his voice in opposition to the unwar-
rantable claims of the sovereign pontiffs, or to decry
the authority of their clergy, were sure to bring down
upon them a tide of papal wrath and vengeance.
Previously to the reformation, many had been cru-
elly sacrificed for their honest opposition to papal
usurpation : but during the progress of that glorious
revolution, and after its establishment, martyrs to the
cause of truth and gospel simplicity were increased
an hundred, if not a thousand fold.

In the following pages the reader will find a de-
velopement of some of the works of Popish arro-
gance, cruelty, and superstition. When he has at-

4

38 INTRODUCTION.

tentively gone through the volume, let him ask him-
self, whether a system which authorizes and sanc-
tions such cruelties, can be the offspring of, or com-
patible with, the gospel of Christ Jesus ? " By their
fruits," says our Saviour, "shall ye know them."
It is not their words, but their works, we should con-
sider. What quarter of the globe has escaped the
ravages of their power? If we look to the East,
China and Japan, where they once bore rule, exhibit
the most cruel and bloody massacres ever heard of,
because their satellites aimed at political 'power, to the
overthrow of the lawful governments. If we look to
America, where their power was supreme, we freeze
with horror at the wanton barbarities inflicted upon
the heathen. If we cast our eyes over Europe, the
seat of their authority, we again see the like tragedies
exhibited; witness in France the massacre of St.
Bartholomew, the revocation of the edict of Nantz,
the extermination of the Waldenses and Albigenses,
the cruel expulsions in Spain, and above all, the cruel
and bloody inquisition, a court which they call holy,
but surely the most accursed on earth. If we turn
our eyes to England, we see the stakes in Smithfield,
and the fires lighted to consume the bodies of those
holy martyrs, who gave up their lives courageously
in defence of their religion ; we see the vile myste-
ries of iniquity discovered at the suppression of the
monasteries, and the shameful practices exposed, by
which the priests deluded the people. 1 will not
recur to other persecutions, but ask ; " Is this the
religion of the meek Jesus, or is it not rather the tri-
umph of Satan over fallen man ?"

We cannot more appropriately close this part of
our subject, than with the following extracts from
Mr. Goring's u Thoughts on the Revelations," in
which he contrasts the character of our blessed Sa-
viour, and of those men who presume to call them-
selves his "substitutes on earth."

INTRODUCTION. 39

" Jesus Christ, as one of his last acts, left mankind
this new law, ( Love one another, as I have loved
you ; by this shall all men know that ye are my dis-
ciples.' Popery hates all that are not of its com-
munion, and condemns them soul and body to the
pit. The blessed Saviour declared his kingdom was
not of this world, being spiritual ; that he judged no
man, but that the words he uttered should judge
them in the last day. The Popes claim the dominion
of the whole earth, spiritual and temporal ; they wear
a triple crown, and pretend to judge all men. The
Saviour, previous to his death, condescended to wash
his disciples' feet, assuring them they should have
no part in him unless they submitted to it. The
Popes, so far from submitting to this lesson of
humility, arrogantly permit them to kiss their feet.
Our blessed Lord claimed not a spot upon earth,
nor had he a place where to lay his head ; to him,
sufficient for the day was the evil thereof, both with
respect to food and raiment — not so the Popes ; from
their votaries they extort the scanty gains of the
sweat of their brows, go gorgeously attired, and feed
sumptuously every day. Our Saviour freely pardon-
ed the sins of his penitent, creatures without fee or
reward ; the Popes presume to pardon sins ; nay,
^rant indulgences for committing more ; but it is for
money and the sordid lucre of gain.

c: Can any man find a resemblance in these two
characters ? Is not the counterfeit easily discovered;
and will not men blush with shame when they see
how grossly they have been deluded by this deceiv-
er ? Let them but fairly read the gospel of Jesus
Christ ; they will there find he delegated his power
to no man in the way the Popes claim it, and that
he alone is the intercessor between God and man,
and no man can approach God but through him.''

We are convinced that there are no" true chris-
tians, who will not agree unequivocally in the justice
of the above observations. They must be convinced

40 INTRODUCTION.

that Popery is absurd; superstitious, idolatrous, and
cruel ; that it darkens the understanding, and en-
slaves the consciences of its votaries, and is as much
an enemy to virtue as to truth.

FOX'S
BOOK OF MARTYRS.

BOOK I.

History of the first ten persecutions of the Primitive Church,
from the year of our Lord G7, till the time of Constantine the
Great ; detailing: the lives and actions of the principal Chris-
tian martyrs of both sexes, in Europe and in Africa.

The dreadful martyrdoms which we are now about
to describe, arose from the persecutions of the Ro-
mans against the Christians, in the primitive ages of
the church, during the space of three hundred years,
or till the time of Constantine.

It is both wonderful and horrible, to peruse the
descriptions of the sufferings of these godly martyrs,
as they are described by the ancient historians.
Their torments were as various as the ingenuity of
man, urged on by the malicious influence of Satan,
could devise ; and their numbers were truly incred-
ible.

The first martyr to our holy religion was its bless-
ed Founder himself. His history is sufficiently
known, as it has been handed down to us in the
New Testament ; nevertheless, it will be proper here
to give an outline of his sufferings, and more partic-
ularly as they will be followed by those of the apos-
tles and evangelists. The persecutions by the em-
perors tool? place long after the death of our Saviour.

Brief History of our Saviour.

It is known that in the reign of Herod, the angel
Gabriel was sent by divine command to the Virgin
Mary. This maiden was betrothed to a carpenter
named Joseph, who resided at Nazareth, a city of
Galilee. The angel informed Mary how highly she
4*

42 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

was favoured of God, and that she should conceive
a son by the Holy Spirit, which happened accord-
ingly ; for travelling to Bethlehem, to pay the capi-
tation-tax then levied, the town was so crowded that
they could only get lodgings in a stable, where Mary
gave birth to our blessed Redeemer, which was an-
nounced to the world by a star and an an^el ; the
wise men of the east saw the former, and the shep-
herds the latter.

After Jesus had been circumcised, he was present-
ed in the temple by his mother ; upon which occa-
sion Simeon exclaimed in the celebrated words re-
corded by Luke : " Lord, now lettest thou thy ser-
vant depart in peace, according to thy word, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Luke ii. 29, 30.

Jesus in his youth disputed with the most learned
doctors in the temple, and soon after was baptized
by John in the river Jordan, when the Holy Ghost
descended upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice
was heard audibly to pronounce these words : " This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

After this, Christ fasted forty days and nights in
the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil,
but resisted all his allurements. He performed his
first miracle at Can a, in Galilee ; he likewise con-
versed with the good Samaritan, and restored to life
a nobleman's dead child. While travelling through
Galilee, he restored the blind to sight, and cured the
lame, the lepers, &c. Among other benevolent ac-
tions, he cured, at the pool of Bethesdafa^ paralytic
man who had been lame thirty-eight years, bidding
him take up his bed and walk ; and he afterwards
cured a man whose right hand was shrimp up and
withered ; with many acts of a similar nature.

When he had chosen his twelve apostles, he preach-
ed the celebrated sermon upon the mount ; after
which he performed several miracles, particularly
the feeding of the multitude, and the walking on the
surface of the sea.

OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR. 43

On the celebration of the Passover, Jesus supped
with his disciples : he informed them that one of
them would betray him and another deny him, and
preached his farewell sermon. A multitude of arm-
ed men soon afterwards surrounded him, and Judas
kissed him, in order to point him out to the soldiers,
who were not acquainted with his person. In the
contention occasioned by the apprehension of Jesus.
Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the
high priest, for which Jesus reproved him, and, by
touching" the wound, healed it. Peter and John fol-
lowed Jesus to the house of Annas, who, refusing to
judge him, sent him bound to Caiaphas, where Peter
denied Christ, as the latter had predicted ; but on
Christ reminding him of his perfidy, Peter went out
and wept bitterly.

When the council had assembled in the morning,
the Jews mocked Jesus, and the elders suborned
false witnesses against him ; the principal accusation
being, that he had said, u I will destroy this temple
that is made with hands, and within three days I will
build another made without hands." Caiaphas then
asked him if he was the Christ, the Son of God, or
not : being answered in the affirmative, he was ac-
cused of blasphemy, and condemned to death by
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who, though
conscious of his innocence, yielded to the solicita-
tions of the Jews, and condemned him to be crucifi-
ed. His remarkable expression at the time of pass-
ing sentenpd^ proved how much he was convinced
that the Lord was persecuted.

Previous to the crucifixion^ the Jews, by way of
derision, clothed Christ in a regal robe, put a crown
of thorns upon his head, and a reed, for a sceptre,
in his hand ; they then mocked him with ironical
compliments, spit in his face, slapped his cheek, and
taking the reed out of his hand, they struck him with
it upon the head. Pilate w T ould fain have released
him, but the general cry was, Crucify him, crucify

44 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

him ; which occasioned the governor to call for a
basin of water, and having washed his hands, he de-
clared himself innocent of the blood of Christ, whom
he termed a jnst person. Bat the Jews said, Let his
blood be upon us, and our children ; and the gover-
nor found himself obliged to comply with their wish-
es, which wish has manifestly taken place, as they
have never since been a collected people.

While leading Christ to the place of crucifixion,
they obliged him to bear the cross, which being af-
terwards unable to sustain, they compelled one Si-
mon, a native of Cyrenia, to carry it the rest of the
way. Mount Calvary was fixed on for the place of
execution, where having arrived, the soldiers offer-
ed him a mixture of gall and vinegar to drink, which
he refused. Having stripped him, they nailed him
to the cross, and crucified him between two male-
factors. After being fastened to the cross, he utter-
ed this benevolent prayer for his enemies : " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The soldiers who crucified him, being four in num-
ber, now cut his mantle to pieces, and divided it be-
tween them ; but his coat being without a seam, they
cast lots for it. Whilst Christ remained in the ago-
nies of death, the Jews mocked him and said, " If
thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross."
The chief priests and. scribes also reviled him, and
said, u He saved others, but cannot save himself."
One of the criminals who was crucified with him,
also cried out, and said, " If you are tfie Messiah,
save yourself and us :" but the other malefactor,
having great faith, exclaimed, " Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom." To which
Christ replied, " This day shalt thou be with me in
paradise." '*-

When Christ was upon the cross the earth was
covered with darkness, and the stars appeared a
noon-day, which struck the people and even the
Jews with terror. In the midst of his tortures Christ

THE APOSTLES, &C. 45

cried out, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsa-
ken me?" and then expressed a desire to drink;
when one of the soldiers gave him, upon the point of
a reed, a sponge dipped in vinegar, which, however,
he refused. About three o'clock in the afternoon he
gave up the ghost, and at that time a violent earth-
quake happened, when the rocks were rent, the
mountains trembled, and the dead were thrown up
from their graves. These signal prodigies attended
the death of Christ, and such was the mortal end of
the Redeemer of mankind.

THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS, AND MARTYRDOM OF THE
APOSTLES, EVANGELISTS, &C.

/. Stephen,

Who was the first in the " noble company of mar-
tyrs," was elected, with six others, as a deacon out
of the Lord's seventy disciples. He was an able and
successful preacher. The principal persons belong-
ing to five Jewish synagogues entered into many al-
tercations with him ; but he, by the soundness of his
doctrine, and the strength of his arguments, overcame
them all, which so much irritated them, that they n
bribed false witnesses to accuse him of blaspheming
God and Moses. On being carried before the coun-
cil, he made a noble defence : but that so much ex-
asperated his judges, that they resolved to condemn
him. At this instant Stephen saw a vision from hea-
ven, which represented Jesus, in his glorified state,
sitting at the right hand of God. This vision so
greatly rejoiced him, that he exclaimed, in raptures,
" Behold I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man
standing on the right hand of God." This caused
him to be condemned, and, having dragged him out
of the city, they stoned him to death. On the spot
where he was martyred, Eudocia, the empress of the
emperor Theodosius, erected a superb church.

46 BOOK OP. MARTYRS.

The death of Stephen was succeeded by a severe
persecution at Jerusalem, in which 2000 Christians,
with Nicanor the deacon, were martyred, and many
others obliged to leave that country.

II. James the Great

Was a Galilean, and the son of Zebedee, a fisher-
man, the elder brother of John, and a relation to
Christ himself: for his mother Salome was cousin-
german to the Virgin Mary. Being one day with his
father fishing in the sea of Galilee, he and his bro-
ther John were called by our Saviour to become his
disciples. They cheerfully obeyed the mandate, and
leaving their father, followed Jesus. It is to be ob-
served, that Christ placed a greater confidence in
them than in any other of the apostles, Peter ex-
cepted.

Christ called these brothers Boanerges, or the
Sons of Thunder, on account of their vigorous minds,
and impetuous tempers.

When Herod Agrippa was made governor of Judea
by the emperor Caligula, he raised a persecution
against the Christians, and particularly singled out
James as an object of his vengeance. This martyr,
on being condemned to death, showed such an>in-
trepidity of spirit, and constancy of mind, that even
his accuser was struck with admiration, and became
a convert to Christianity. This transition so enrag-
ed the people in power, that they condemned him
likewise to death; when James the apostle and his
penitent accuser were both beheaded on the same
day, and with the same sword. These events took
place in the year of Christ 44. /

About the same period, Timon and Parmenas, two
of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom, the for-
mer at Corinth, and the latter at Philippi, in Mace-
donia.

THE APOSTLES, &C 47

III Philip,

The apostle and martyr, was born at Bethsaida, in
Galilee, and was the first called by the name of Dis-
ciple. He was employed in several important com-
missions by Christ, and being deputed to preach in
Upper Asia, laboured very diligently in his apostle-
ship. He then travelled into Phrygia, and arriving
at Heliopolis, found the inhabitants so sunk in idol-
atry as to worship a large serpent. Philip, however,
converted many of them to Christianity, and even
procured the death of the serpent. This so enraged
the magistrates, that they committed him to prison,
had him severely scourged, and afterwards crucified.
His friend Bartholomew found an opportunity of tak-
ing down the body, and burying it ; for which, how-
ever, he was very near suffering the same fate. His
martyrdom happened eight years after that of James
the Great, a. d. 52.

IV Matthew,

The evangelist, apostle, and martyr, was born at
Nazareth, in Galilee, but resided chiefly at Caper-
naum^ on account of his business, which was that of
a toll-gatherer, to collect tribute of such as had oc-
casion to pass the sea of Galilee. On being called
as a disciple, he immediately complied, and left every
thing to follow Christ. After the ascension of his
master, he continued preaching the gospel in Judea
about nine years. Intending to leave Judea, in or-
der to go and preach among the Gentiles, he wrote
his Gospel in Hebrew, for the use of his Jewish con-
verts ; but it was afterwards translated into Greek
by James the less. He then went to Ethiopia, or-
dained preachers, settled churches, and made many
converts. He afterwards proceeded to Parthia,
where he had the same success ; but returning to
Ethiopia, he was slain by a halberd, in the city of
Nadabar, about the year "of Christ 60.

48 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

V Mark,

The evangelist and martyr, was born of Jewish
parents, of the tribe of Levi. It is imagined that he
was converted to Christianity by Peter, whom he
served as an amanuensis, and whom he attended in
all his travels. Being entreated by the converts at
Rome, to commit to writing the admirable discours-
es they had heard from Peter and himself, he com-
plied with this request, and composed his gospel ac-
cordingly, in the Greek language. He then went to
Egypt, and afterwards proceeded to Lybia, where he
made many converts. On returning to Alexandria,
some of the Egyptians, exasperated at his success,
determined on his death. They therefore tied his
feet, dragged him through the streets, left him bruis-
ed in a dungeon all night, and the next day burned
his body.

VI Ja7nes the Less,

The apostle and martyr, was called so, to distin-
guish him from James the Great. He was the son,
by a first wife, of Joseph, the reputed father of Christ ;
he was, after the Lord's ascension, elected to the
oversight of the church of Jerusalem : he wrote his
general epistles to all Christians and converts what-
ever to suppress a dangerous error then propaga-
ting, viz. : " That a faith in Christ was alone suffi-
cient for salvation, without good works." The Jews,
being at this time greatly enraged that Paul had es-
caped their fury, by appealing to Rome, determined
to wreak their vengeance on James, who was now
ninety-four years of age : they accordingly threw
him down, beat, bruised, and stoned him ; and then
dashed out his brains with a club, such as was used
by fullers in dressing cloth.

VII. Matthias,
The apostle and martyr, was called to the apostle-
ship after the death of Christ, to supply the vacant

THE APOSTLES, &C. 49

place of Judas, who had betrayed his master, and
was likewise one of the seventy disciples. He was
martyred at Jerusalem, being first stoned and then
beheaded,

VIII. Andrew,
The apostle and martyr, was the brother of Peter,
and preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations.
On arriving at Edessa, the governor of the country,
named Egeas, threatened him for preaching against
the idols there worshipped. Andrew persisting in
the propagation of his doctrines, he was ordered to
be crucified on a cross, two ends of which were
transversely fixed in the ground. He boldly told his
accusers, that he would not have preached the glory
of the cross, had he feared to die on it. And again,
when they came to crucify him, he said, that he co-
veted the cross, and longed to embrace it. He was
fastened to the cross, not with nails, but cords, that
his death might be more slow. In this situation he
continued two days, preaching the greatest part of
the time to the people, when he expired.

IX. Peter,

The great apostle and martyr, was born at Beth-
saida, in Galilee, being the son of Jonah, a fisherman,
which employment Peter himself followed. He was
persuaded by his brother to turn Christian, when
Christ gave him the name of Cephas, implying, in
the Syriac language, a rock. He was called, a if the
same time as his brother, to be an apostle ; gave un-
common proofs of his zeal for the service of Christ,
and always appeared as the principal speaker among
the apostles. He had, however, the weakness to
deny his master after his apprehension, though he
defended him at the time. But after the death of
Christ, the Jews still continued to persecute the
Christians, and ordered several of the apostles,
among whom was Peter, to be scourged. This pun-
5

50 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ishment they bore with the greatest fortitude, antf
rejoiced that they were thought worthy to suffer for
the sake of their Redeemer.

When Herod Agrippa caused James the Great to
be put to. death, and found that it pleased the Jews,
he resolved, in order to ingratiate himself with the
people, that Peter should fall the next sacrifice. He
was accordingly apprehended, and thrown into pri-
son ; but an angel of the Lord released him, which
so enraged Herod, that he ordered the sentinels who
guarded the dungeon in which he had been confin-
ed, to be put to death. Peter, after various other
miraeles, retired to Rome, where he defeated all the
artificers, and confounded the magic of Simon, the ma-
gician, a great favourite of the emperor Nero ; he
likewise converted to Christianity one of the con-
cubines of that monarch, which so exasperated the
tyrant, that he ordered both Peter and Paul to be
apprehended. During the time of their confinement
they converted two of the captains of the guards,
and forty-seven other persons, to Christianity. Hav-
ing been nine months in prison, Peter was brought
out from thence for execution, when, after being se-
verely scourged, he was crucified, with his head
downwards ; which position, however, was at his own
request.

X. Paul,

The apostle and martyr, was a Jew of the tribe of
Benjamin, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, and before his
conversion was called Saul. He was at first a great
enemy to, and persecuter of the Christians ; and a
principal promoter of the death of Stephen. While
on his way to Damascus, the glory of the Lord came
suddenly upon him, he was struck to the earth, and
was afflicted with blindness during three days ; on
his recovery from which, he immediately became a
professor, an apostle, and ultimately a martyr for the
religion which he had formerly persecuted. Amongst

THE APOSTLES, &C. 51

his labours in spreading the doctrine of Christ, he
converted to the faith Sergius Paulus, the procon-
sul of Cyprus, on which he took his name, and, as
some suppose, was from thence called Paulus instead
of Saulus. After his many labours he took to him
Barnabas, and went up to Jerusalem, to Peter, James,
and Johu, where he was ordained, and sent out with
Barnabas to preach to the Gentiles. At Iconium,
Paul and Barnabas were near being stoned to death
by the enraged Jews ; upon which they fled to Ly-
caonia. At Lystra, Paul was stoned, dragged out of-
the city, and left for dead. He, however, happily
revived, and escaped to Derbe. At Phillippi, Paul
and Silas were imprisoned and whipped ; and both
were again persecuted at Thessalonica. Being af-
terwards taken at Jerusalem, he was sent to Caesa-
rea, but appealed to Caesar at Rome. Here he con-
tinued a prisoner at large for two years ; and at
length being released, he visited the churches of
Greece and Rome, and preached in France and
Spain. Returning to Rome, he was again appre-
hended, and, by the order of Nero, martyred, by be-
ing beheaded.

XL Jude,

The apostle and martyr, the brother of James, was
commonly called Thaddaeus. Being sent to Edessa,
he wrought many miracles, and made many converts,
which stirring up the resentment of the people in"
power, he was crucified about the year 72.

XII Bartholomew,
The apostle and martyr, preached in several coun-
tries, performed many miracles, and healed various
diseases. He translated Matthew's gospel into the
Indian language, and propagated it in that country ;
but at length the idolaters, growing impatient with
his doctrines, severely beat, crucified, and slew him,
and then cut off his head.

52 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

XIII. Thomas

Was called by this name in Syriac, but Didymus in
Greek ; he was an apostle and martyr, and preached
in Parthia and India, where, displeasing the pagan
priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with
a spear.

XIV. Luke the Evangelist,

Was the author of a most excellent gospel. He
travelled with Paul to Rome, and preached to divers
barbarous nations, till the priests in Greece hanged
him on, an olive tree.

XV. Simon,

The apostle and martyr, was distinguished, from
his zeal, by the name of Zelotes. He preached with
great success in Mauritania, and other parts of Africa,
and even in Britain, where, though he made many
converts, he was crucified, A. D. 74.

XVI. John

Was distinguished for being a prophet, apostle, di-
vine, evangelist, and martyr. He is called the belov-
ed disciple, and was brother to James the Great,
He was previously a disciple of John the Baptist,
and afterwards not only one of the twelve apostles,
but one of the three to whom Christ communicated
fixe most secret passages of his life. He founded
churches at Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis, Philadelphia,
Laodicea, and Thyatira, to whom he directs his book
of Revelation. Being at Ephesus, he was ordered
by the emperor Domitian to be sent bound to Rome,
where he was condemned to be cast into a cauldron
of boiling oil. But here a miracle appeared in his
favour ; the oil did him no injury, and Domitian,
therefore, not being able to put him to death, ban-
ished him to Patmos, to work in the mines. He was,
however, recalled by Nerva, who succeeded Domi-
tian ; but was deemed a martyr on account of his

FIRST PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 53

having undergone an execution, though it did not
take effect. He wrote his epistles, gospel, and revela-
tions, all in a different style ; but they are all equal-
ly admired. He was the only apostle who escaped
a violent death, and lived the longest of any of them,
being nearly 100 years of age at the time of his
death.

XVIL Barnabas

Was a native of Cyprus, but of Jewish parents :
the time of his death is uncertain, but it is supposed
to be about the year of Christ 73.

THE FIRST PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION UNDER NERO

The first persecution, in the primitive ages of the
church, was begun by that cruel tyrant Nero Do mi-
tius, the sixth emperor of Rome, a. d. 67. This
monarch reigned, for the space of five years, with
tolerable credit to himself, but then gave way to the
greatest extravagance of temper, and to the most
atrocious barbarities. Among other diabolical out-
rages, he ordered that the city of Rome should be
set on fire, which was done by his officers, guards,
and servants. While the city was in flames, he went
up to the tower of Maecenas, played upon his harp,
sung the song of the burning of Troy, and declared,-'
" That he wished the ruin of all things before his
death." Among the noble buildings burnt was the
circus, or place appropriated to horse-races. It was
half a mile in length, of an oval form, with rows of
seats rising above each other, and capable of receiv-
ing with ease, upwards of 100,000 spectators. Many
other palaces and houses were consumed ; and seve-
ral thousands of the people perished in the flames,
were smothered, or buried beneath the ruins.

This dreadful conflagration continued nine days ;
when Nero, finding that his conduct was greatly

5*

54 BOOK OF MARTYIIS.

blamed, and a severe odium cast upon him, deter-
mined to lay the whole upon the Christians, at once
to excuse himself, and to have an opportunity of wit-
nessing new cruelties. The barbarities exercised
upon the Christians, during the first persecution,
were such as excited the commiseration of the Ro-
mans themselves. Nero even refined upon cruelty,
and contrived all manner of punishments for the
Christians. In particular, he had some sewed up in
the skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs
till they expired ; and others dressed in shirts made
stiff with wax, fixed to axle-trees, and set on fire in
his gardens. This persecution was general through-
out the whole Roman empire ; but it rather increas-
ed than diminished the spirit of Christianity In the
course of it, Paul and Peter were martyred ; and to
their names may be added Erastus, chamberlain of
Corintli ; Aristarchns the Macedonian ; Trophimus,
an Ephesian, converted by Paul, and fellow-labour-
er with him ; Joseph, commonly called Barsabas ;
and Ananias, a preacher in Damascus.

THE SECOND PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION, UNDER
DOM.IT I AN.

Domitian came to the throne A. D. 81, having
slain his brother Titus, the reigning emperor. In
his temper he strongly resembled Nero ; yet he spar-
ed the Christians until the year 95, when he com-
menced the general persecution. His rage was such,
that he even put to death many of the Roman sena-
tors ; some through malice, and others to confiscate
their estates ; after which he commanded all the line-
age of David to be extirpated. Two Christians were
brought before him, accused of being of the tribe of
Judah, and line of David ; but from their answers,
he despised them as idiots, and dismissed them ac-
cordingly. He, however, was determined to be more
secure upon other occasions ; for he took away

■\

SECOND PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 55

the property of many Christians, put several to death,
and banished others.

Amongst the numerous martyrs that suffered dur-
ing this persecution was Simeon, bishop of Jerusa-
lem, who was crucified ; and the apostle John, who
was boiled in oil, and afterwards banished to Patmos.
Flavia, the daughter of a Roman senator, was like-
wise banished to Pontus ; and a law was enacted,
" That no Christian, once brought before an appro-
priate tribunal, should be exempted from punishment,
without renouncing his religon."

During this reign, there were a variety of tales
composed in order to injure the Christians. Among
other falsehoods, they were accused of indecent
nightly meetings, of a rebellious, turbulent spirit ; of
being inimical to the Roman empire ; of murdering
their children, and even of being cannibals ; and at
this time, such was the infatuation of the Pagans,
that if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes, afflicted
any of the Roman provinces, these calamities were
said to be manifestations of the divine wrath, occasion-
ed by their impieties. These persecutions increased the
number of informers ; and many, for the sake of
gain, swore away the lives of the innocent. When
any Christians were brought before the magistrates,
a test oath was proposed, when, if they refused it,
death was pronounced against them ; and if they
confessed themselves Christians, the sentence was the
same. The various kinds of punishments and in-
flicted cruelties were, imprisonment, racking, sear-
ing, broiling, burning, scourging, stoning, hanging,
and worrying. Many were torn piecemeal with red
hot pincers, and others were thrown upon the horns
of wild bulls. After having suffered these cruelties,
the friends of the deceased were refused the privi-
lege of burning their remains.

The following were the most remarkable of the
numerous martyrs who suffered during this persecu-
tion.

56 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Dionysius, the Areopagite, an Athenian by birth,
and educated in all the useful and ornamental litera-
ture of Greece. From Greece, he travelled into
Egypt, where he devoted himself to the study of
astronomy, and made very particular observations on
the great and super-natural eclipse, which happened
at the time of our Saviour's crucifixion. On his re-
turn to Athens, he became a convert to Christianity,
and was appointed bishop of that city. This office
he continued to discharge with great fidelity and ac-
ceptance till Domitian's persecuting spirit brought
him to the block.

Timothy, the celebrated disciple of Paul," and
bishop of Ephesus, also suffered during this persecu-
tion, about the year 97. During the celebration of
a pagan festival, called Catagogion, this holy man,
meeting a procession, composed of an idolatrous
multitude, severely reproved them, for ridiculous and
wicked conduct ; upon which, under a high wrought
excitement, they fell upon him, with clubs, and beat
him in so cruel a manner, that he expired of the
bruises two days after.

Many other distinguished and pious men, under
various tortures, were, during this persecution, brought
to the grave, but brevity requires us to omit a partic-
ular ram-itinn nf them.

THIRD PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 57

THE THIRD PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION, UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

Between the second and third Roman persecution
was but one year. Upon Nerva succeeding Domi-
tiarij he gave a respite to the Christians ; but reign-
ing only thirteen months, his successor Trajan, in
the tenth year of his reign, and in a. d. 108, began
the third persecution against them. While the per-
secution raged, Plinius Secundus, a heathen philoso-
pher, wrote to the emperor in favour of Christians,
stating that he found nothing objectionable in their
conduct ; and that u the whole sum of their error
consisted in this, that they were wont at certain times
appointed, to meet before day, and to sing certain
hymns to one Christ, their God ; and to confederate
among themselves, to abstain from all theft, murder,
and adultery ; to keep their faith, and to defraud no
man : which done, then to depart for that time, and
afterwards to resort again to take meat in companies
together, both men and women, one with another,
and yet without any act of evil" To this epistle
Trajan returned this indecisive answer ; li That
Christians ought not to be sought after, but when
brought before the magistracy they should be punish-
ed.'' This reply of the emperor, vague as it was, oc-
casioned the persecution in some measure to abate,
as his officers were uncertain, if they carried it on
with severity, how he might choose to interpret Ills
letter. Trajan, however, soon after wrote to Jeru-
salem and gave orders to exterminate the stock of
David ; in consequence of which, all that could bo
found of that race were put to death.

Phocas, bishop of Pontus, refusing to sacrifice to
Neptune, was, by the immediate order of Trajan,
cast first into a hot lime-kiln, and being drawn from
thence, was thrown into a scalding bath till he ex-
pired.

Trajan likewise commanded the martyrdom of Ig-

58 BOOK OF MAUTYRS.

natius, bishop of Antioch. This holy man, it is said,
was the person whom, when an infant, Christ took
into his arms and showed to his disciples, as one that
would be a pattern of humility and innocence. He
received the gospel afterwards from John the Evan-
gelist, and was exceedingly zealous of his mission.
He boldly vindicated the faith of Christ before the
emperor, for which he cast him into prison, and was
tormented in a cruel manner ; for, after being dread-
fully scourged, he was compelled to hold fire in his
hands, and at the same time, papers dipped in oil
were put to his sides, and set alight. His flesh was
then torn with red-hot pincers, and at last he was
despatched by being torn to pieces by wild beasts.

Sympkorosa, a widow, and her seven sons, were
commanded by Trajan to sacrifice to the heathen
deities. Refusing to comply with the impious re-
quest, the emperor, greatly exasperated, ordered her
to be carried to the temple of Hercules, where she
was scourged, and hung up for some time by the hair
of the head ; then a large stone was fastened to her
neck, and she was thrown into the river. Her sons
were fastened to seven posts, and being drawn up by
the pulleys, their limbs were dislocated ; these tor-
tures not affecting their resolution, they were thus
martyred. Crescentius, the eldest, was stabbed in
the throat ; Julian, the second, in the breast ; Neme-
sius, the third, in the heart; Primitius, the fourth, in
the navel ; Justice, the fifth, in the back ; Stacteus,
the sixth, in the side ; and Eugenius, the youngest,
was sawed asunder.

Trajan died in the year 117, and was succeeded
by Adrian, during whose reign of 21 years, the con-
dition of the church was, upon the whole, less dis-
tressing than during the reign of his predecessor.
Yet ? in the first years of Adrian, the persecution went
on, and many illustrious men, and more still hum-
bler disciples of Christ, fell victims to his cruel laws

THIRD PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 59

which had been passed by Trajan, and which conti-
nued unrepealed for several years.

At length Quadratus, bishop of Athens, made a
learned apology in favour of the Christians before the
emperor Adrian, who happened to be there ; and
Aristides, a philosopher of the same city, wrote an
elegant epistle, which caused Adrian to relax in his
severities, and relent in their favour. He indeed went
so far as to command, that no Christian should be
punished on the score of religion or opinion only ; but
this gave other pretexts to the Jews and Pagans to
persecute them ; for then they began to employ and
suborn false witnesses, to accuse them of crimes
against the state or civil authority.

Adrian died in the year 138, and was succeeded
by Antoninus Pius, so amiable a monarch, that his
people gave him the title of " The Father of Vir-
tues." Immediately upon his accession to the throne,
he published an edict concluding with these words:
" If any hereafter shall vex or trouble the Christ-
ians, having no other cause but that they are such,
let the accused be released, and the accusers be
punished," This stopped the persecution, and the
Christians enjoyed a respite from their sufferings
during this emperor's reign, though their enemies
took every occasion to do them what injuries they
could. The piety and goodness of Antoninus were so
great, that he used to say, that he had rather save
one citizen, than to destroy a thousand of his ad\ser-
saries.

THE FOURTH PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS, WHICH COMMENCED A. D. 162.

Antoninus Pius was succeeded by Marcus Au-
relius Antoninus Verus, who began the fourth perse-
cution, in which many Christians were martyred,

60 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

particularly in several parts of Asia, and in France.
Such were the cruelties used in this persecution, that
many of the spectators shuddered with horror at the
sight, and were astonished at the intrepidity of the
sufferers. Some of the martyrs were obliged to pass
with their already wounded feet, over thorns, nails, *
sharp shells, &c-., others were scourged till their sin-
ews and veins lay bare ; and after suffering the most
excruciating tortures, they were destroyed by the most
terrible deaths.

Germanicus, a young and true Christian, being
delivered to the wild beasts on account of his faith,
behaved with such astonishing courage, that several
pagans became converts, to a faith which inspired
such fortitude. This enraged others so much, that
they cried out he merited death ; and many of the
multitude wondering at this beloved martyr for his
constancy and virtue, began suddenly to cry out with
a loud voice, saying, " Destroy the wicked men, let
Polycarpus be sought for." And whilst "a great up-
roar and tumult began to be raised upon those cries,
a certain Phrygian, named Quintus, lately arrived
from his country, was so afflicted at the sight of the
wild beasts, that he rushed to the judgment-seat and
upbraided the judges, for which he was put to death.

Polycarpus, bishop of Smyrna, the disciple and
pupil of the apostle John, now in the 87th year of
his age, 27th of his ministry, hearing that he was
sought after, escaped, but was discovered by a child.
From this circumstance, and having dreamed that
his bed suddenly became on fire, and was consumed
in a moment, he concluded that it was God's will that
he should suffer martyrdom. He therefore did not
attempt to make a second escape when h£ had an
opportunity of so doing. Those who apprehended
him were amazed at his serene countenance and
gravity. After feasting them, he desired an hour for

Polycarpus.— Page 60.

St. Lawrence.— Page 81.

FOURTH PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 61

prayer, which being allowed, he prayed with such
fervency, that his guards repented they had been in-
strumental in taking him. He was, however, carried
before the proconsul, condemned, and conducted to
the market-place. Wood being provided, the holy
man earnestly prayed to heaven, after being bound
to the stake ; and as the flames grew vehement, the
executioners gave way on both sides, the heat now
becoming intolerable. In the mean time, the bishop
sung praises to God in the midst of the flames, but
remained unconsumed therein, and the burning of
the wood spreading a fragrance around, the guards
-were much surprised. Determined, however, to put
an end to his life, they stuck spears into his body,
when the quantity of blood that issued from the
wounds extinguished the flames. After considerable
attempts, however, they put him to death, and burnt
his body when dead, not being able to consume it
while alive. This extraordinary event had such an
efFect upon the people that they began to adore the
martyr ; and the proconsul was admonished not to
deliver his body, lest the people should leave Christ,
and begin to worship him. Twelve other Christians,
who had been intimate with Polycarpus, were soon
after martyred.

-•Felicitatas, an illustrious Roman lady of a con-
siderable family, and great virtues, was a devout
Christian. She had seven sons, whom she had edu-
cated with the most exemplary piety. The empire
having been about this time grievously troubled with
earthquakes, famine, inundation, <fcc, the Christians
were accused as the cause, and Felicitatas was in-
cluded in the accusation. The lady and her family
being seized, the emperor gave orders to Publius,
the, Roman governor, to proceed against her. Upon
this Publius began with the mother, thinking that if
he could prevail with her to change her religion, the
example would have great influence with her sons.
Finding her inflexible, he turned his entreaties to

62 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

menaces, and threatened her with destruction to her-
self and family. She despised his threats as she had
done his promises ; he then caused her sons to be
brought before him, whom he examined separately.
They all, however, remained steadfast in their faith,
and unanimous in their opinions, on which the whole
family were ordered for execution. Januarius, the
eldest, was scourged and pressed to death with
weights ; Felix and Philip, the two next, had their
brains dashed out with clubs; Sylvanus, the fourth,
was murdered by being thrown from a precipice ;
and the three younger sons. viz. Alexander, Vitalis,
and Martialis, were all beheaded. The mother was
beheaded with the same sword as the three latter.

Justin, the celebrated philosopher, fell a martyi
in this persecution. He was a native of Neapolis,
in Samaria, and was born a. d. 103. He had the
best, education those times could afford, and travelled
into Egypt, the country where the polite tour of that
age was made for improvement. At Alexandria he
was informed of every thing relative to the seventy
interpreters of the writings, and shewn the rooms, or
rather cells, in which their work was performed.
Justin was a great lover of truth, and an universal
scholar ; he investigated the Stoic and Peripatetic
philosophy, and attempted the Pythagorian system ;
but the behaviour of one of its professors disgusting
him, he applied himself to the Platonic, in which he
took great delight. About the year 133, when he
was thirty years of age, he became a convert to
Christianity. Justin wrote an elegant epistle to the
Gentiles, to convert them to the faith he had newly
acquired, and lived in so pure and innocent a man-
ner that he well deserved the title of a Christian
philosopher. He likewise employed his talents in
convincing the Jews of the truth of the Christian
rites, and spent much time in travelling, till he took
np his abode in Rome, and fixed his habitation on
the Viminal mount. He kept a public school, taught

FOURTH PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 6J

many who afterwards became great men, and wrote
a treatise to confute heresies of all kinds. As the
Pagans began to treat the Christians with great se-
verity, Justin wrote his first apology in their favour,
and addressed it to the emperor Antoninus, or two
princes whom he had adopted as his sons, and to the
senate and people of Rome in general. This piece,
which occasioned the emperor to publish an edict in
favour of the Christians, displays great learning and
genius.

A short time after, he entered into frequent con-
tests with Crescens, a person of a vicious life, but a
celebrated cynic philosopher; and his arguments
appeared so powerful, yet disgusting to the cynic,
that he resolved on his destruction, which, in the
sequel, he accomplished. The second apology of
Justin was occasioned by the following circumstances :
a man and his wife, who were both bad livers, resided
at Rome. The woman, however, becoming a convert
to Christianity, attempted to reclaim her husband ;
but not succeeding, she sued for a divorce, which so
exasperated him, that he accused her of being a Chris-
tian. Upon her petition, however, he dropped the
prosecution, and levelled his malice at Ptolemeus, who
had converted her. Ptolemeus was condemned to
die ; and one Lucius, with another person, for ex-
pressing themselves too freely upon the occasion,
met with the same fate. Justin's apology upon these
severities gave Crescens an opportunity of prejudic-
ing the emperor against the writer of it ; upon which
Jiistin and six of his companions were apprehended.
Being commanded, as usual, to deny their faith, and
sacrifice to the pagan idols, they refused to do either ;
they were, therefore, condemned to be first scourged,
and then beheaded.

Some of the restless northern nations having risen
in arms against Rome, the emperor marched to en-
counter them. He was, however, drawn into an
ambuscade, and dreaded the loss of his whole army.

64 HOOK OF MARTYRS.

Enveloped with mountains, surrounded by enemies,
and perishing with thirst, the pagan deities were in-
voked in vain ; when the men belonging to the mili-
tine, or thundering legion, who were all Christians,
were commanded to call upon their Goa for succour.
A miraculous deliverance immediately ensued ; a
prodigious quantity of rain fell, which, being caught
by the men, and filling the dykes, afforded a sudden
and astonishing relief. It appears, that the storm
which miraculously flashed in the faces of the ene-
my, so intimidated them, that part deserted to the
Roman army ; the rest were defeated, and the re-
volted provinces entirely recovered. This affair oc-
casioned the persecution to subside for some time,
at least in those parts immediately under the inspec-
tion of the emperor ; but we find that it soon after
raged in France, particularly at Lyons, where the
tortures to which many of the Christians were put,
almost exceed the powers of description.

The principal of these martyrs were Vetius Aga-
thus, a young man ; Blandinia, a Christian lady, of a
weak constitution ; Sanctus, a deacon of Vienna ;
red-hot plates of brass were placed upon the tender-
est parts of his body ; Biblias, a weak woman, once
an apostate. Attalus, of Pergamus ; and Pothinus,
the venerable bishop of Lyons, who was ninety years
of age.

When the Christians, upon these occasions, re-
ceived martyrdom, they were ornamented, and
crowned with garlands of flowers ; for which they in
heaven received eternal crowns of glory.

The torments were various ; and, exclusive of
those already mentioned, the martyrs of Lyons were
compelled to sit in red-hot iron chairs till their flesh
broiled. This was inflicted with peculiar severity
on Sanctus, already mentioned, and some others.
Some were sewed up in nets, and thrown on the
horns of wild bulls ; and the carcasses of those who
died in prison, previous to the apointed time of ex-

FOURTH PRIMITIVE PERSECUTION. 65

ecution, were thrown to dogs. Indeed, so far did
the malice of the pagans proceed, that they set guards
over the bodies while the beasts were devouring them,
lest' the friends of the deceased should get them away
by stealth ; and the offals left by the dogs were or-
dered to be burnt.

The martyrs of Lyons, according to the best ac-
counts we could obtain, who suffered for the gospel,
were forty-eight in number, and their executions
happened in the year of Christ 177.

Epipodius and Alexander were celebrated for their
great friendship, and their Christian union with each
other. The first was born at Lyons, the latter at
Greece. Epipodius, being compassionated by the
governor of Lyons, and exhorted to join in their fes-
tive pagan worship, replied, " Your pretended ten-
derness is actually cruelty ; and the agreeable life
you describe is replete with everlasting death. Christ
suffered for us, that our pleasures should be immortal,
and hath prepared for his followers an eternity of bliss.
The frame of man being composed of two parts, bo-
dy and soul, the first, as mean and perishable, should
be rendered subservient to the interests of the last.
Your idolatrous feasts may gratify the mortal, but
they injure the immortal part ; that cannot therefore
be enjoying life which destroys the most valuable
moiety of your frame. Your pleasures lead to eter-
nal death, and our pains lead to perpetual happiness,"
Epipodius was severely beaten, and then put to the
rack, upon which being stretched, his flesh was torn
with iron hooks. Having born his torments with
incredible patience and unshaken fortitude, he was
taken from the rack and beheaded.

Valerian and Marcellus, who were nearly related
to each other, were imprisoned at Lyons, in the year
177, for being Christians. The father was fixed up
to the waist in the ground ; in which position, aftei
remaining three days, he expired, a. d. 179. Valeri
an was beheaded.

6*

66 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Apollonius, a Roman senator, an accomplished
gentleman, and a sincere Christian, suffered under
Commodus, because he would not worship him as
Hercules.

Eusebius, Vincentius, Potentianus, Peregrinus and
Julius, a Roman senator, were martyred on the same
account.

THE FIFTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

The emperor Commodus, who had succeeded his
father Antoninus in ISO, dying in the year 101, was
succeeded by Pertinax, and he by Julianus, both of
whom reigned but a short time. On the death of the
last, Severus became emperor in the year 192. When
he had been recovered from a severe fit of sickness
by a Christian, he became a great favourer of Chris-
tians in general ; and even permitted his son Cara-
calla to be. nursed by a female of that persuasion.
Hence, during the reigns of the emperors already
mentioned, who successively succeeded Commodus,
and some years of the latter's reign, the Christians
had a respite for several years from persecution. But
the prejudice and fury of the ignorant multitude
again prevailed, and the obsolete laws were put in
execution against the Christians. The pagans were
alarmed at the progress of Christianity, and revived
the calumny of placing accidental misfortunes to the
account of its professors. Fire, sword, wild beasts,
and imprisonments, were resorted to ; and even the
dead bodies of Christians were torn from their graves,
and subject to every insult ; yet the gospel withstood
the attacks of its boisterous enemies. Tertullian,
who lived in this age, informs us, that if the Chris-
tians' had collectively withdrawn themselves from the
Roman territories, the empire would have been great*
ly depopulated.

FIFTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 67

Victor, bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom in the
first year of the third century, viz. a. d. 201, though
the circumstances are not ascertained.

Leonidas, the father of the celebrated Origen, was
beheaded for being a Christian. Previous to the ex-
ecution, the son, in order to encourage him, wrote
to him in these remarkable words : " Beware, Sir,
that your care for us does not make you change your
resolution." Many of Origen's hearers likewise suf-
fered martyrdom.

Among those who suffered during this persecution
was also the venerable Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons,
who was born in Greece, and received a Christian
education. It is generally supposed that the account
of the persecutions at Lyons was written by himself.
He succeeded the martyr Pothynus as bishop of Ly-
ons, and ruled his diocese with great propriety : he
was a zealous opposer of heresies in general, and
wrote a celebrated tract against heresy about a. d.
1S7.

Victor, the bishop of Rome, wanting to impose a
particular mode of keeping Easter there, it occasion-
ed some disorders among the Christians. In parti-
cular, Irenaeus wrote him a synodical epistle in the
name of the Gallic churches. This zeal in favour
of Christianity, pointed him out as an object of re-
sentment to the emperor ; and he was acccordingly
beheaded in a. d. 202.

Persecutions in Africa.
The persecutions about this time extended to Af-
rica, and many were martyred in that part of the
globe ; but we must content ourselves with giving a
particular account only of Perpetua, a married lady
of about twenty-six years of age, with a young child
at her breast ; she was seized for being a Christian,
Her father, who tenderly loved her, went to console
her during her confinement, and attempted to per-
suade her to renounce Christianity. Perpetua, how-

68 HOOK OF MARTYRS.

ever, resisted every entreaty. This resolution so
much incensed her father, that he beat her severely,
and did not visit her for some days after ; and, in the
mean time, she and some others who were confin-
ed, were baptized, as they were before only cate-
chumens.

On being carried before the proconsul Minutius,
she was commanded to sacrifice to the idols ; but re-
fusing, she was ordered to a dark dungeon, and was
deprived of her child. Two deacons, however, Ter-
tius and Pomponious, who had the care of persecu-
ted Christians, allowed her some hours daily to in-
hale the fresh air, during which time she had the sa-
tisfaction of being allowed to nurse her child. Fore-
seeing, however, that she should not long be per-
mitted to take care of it, she recommended it strong-
ly to her mother's attention. Her father at length
paid her a second visit, and again entreated her to
renounce Christianity. His behaviour was now all
tenderness and humanity ; but inflexible to all things
but Christ, she knew she must leave every thing for
his sake ; and she only said to him, " God's will must
be clone." He then, with an almost bursting heart,
left her.

Perpetua gave the strongest proof of fortitude and
strength of mind on her trial. Her judge entreated
her to consider her father's tears, her infant's help-
lessness, and her own life ; but, triumphing over the
softer sentiments of nature, she forgot the ideas of
both mental and corporeal pain, and determined to
sacrifice all the feelings of human sensibility, to that
immortality ofFered by Christ. In vain did they at-
tempt to persuade her that their offers were gentle,
and her own religion otherwise. Aware that she
must die, her father's parental tenderness returned,
and in his anxiety he attempted to carry her off, on
which he received a severe blow from one of the
officers. Irritated at this, the daughter immediately
declared, that she felt that blow more severely than

FIFTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 69

if she had received it herself. Being conducted back
to prison, she awaited her execution with several
other persons, who were to be executed at the same
time ; one of these, Felicitas, a married Christian
lady, was big with child at the time of her trial. The
procurator, when he examined her, entreated her to
have pity upon herself and her condition ; but she
replied, that his compassion was useless, for no
thought of self-preservation could induce her to sub-
mit to any idolatrous proposition. She was delivered
in prison of a girl, which was adopted by a Christian
woman as her own.

Revocatus was a catechumen of Carthage, and a
slave. The names of the other prisoners, who were
to suffer upon this occasion, were Satur, Saturnius,
and Secundulus. When the day of execution arriv-
ed, they were led to the amphitheatre. Satur, Sa-
turnius, and Revocatus, having the fortitude to de-
nounce God's judgments upon their persecutors,
were ordered to run the gauntelope between the
hunters, or such as had the care of the wild beasts.
The hunters being drawn up in two ranks, they ran
between, and as they passed were severely lashed.
Felicitas and Perpetua were stripped, in order to be
thrown to a mad bull ; but some of the spectators,
through decency, desired that they might be permit-
ted to put on their clothes, which request was grant-
ed. The bull made his first attack upon Perpetua,
and stunned her : he then attacked Felicitas, and
wounded her much ; but not killing them, the exe-
cutioner did that office with a sword. Revocatus
and Satur were destroyed by wild beasts ; Saturnius
was beheaded ; and Secundulus died in prison.
These executions took place on the 8th of March,
a. d. 205.

70 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

THE SIXTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

The sixth general persecution occurred under Max-
iminus, the son of a herdsman of Thrace, who by
means of the army was made emperor a. d. 235. In
Cappadocia, the president Semiramus made great ef-
forts to exterminate the Christians from that kingdom.
A Roman soldier who refused to wear a laurel crown
bestowed on him by the emperor, and confessed him-
self a Christian, was scourged, imprisoned, and put
to death. Pontianus, bishop of Rome, for preaching
against idolatry, was banished to Sardinia, and there
destroyed. Anteros, a Grecian, who succeeded this
bishop in the see of Rome, gave so much offence to
the government by collecting the acts of the mar-
tyrs, that, after having held his dignity only forty
days, he suffered martyrdom himself. Pammachius,
a Roman senator, with his family and other Chris-
tians to the number of forty-two, were, on account
of their religion, all beheaded in one day, and their
heads set up on the city gates. Simplicius, another
senator, suffered martyrdom in a similar way. Cale-
podius, a Christian minister, after being inhumanly
treated, and barbarously dragged about the streets,
was thrown into the river Tiber with a mill-stone
fastened about his neck. Qxiiritus, a Roman noble-
man, with his family and domestics, were, on ac-
count of their Christian principles, put to most ex-
cruciating tortures and painful deaths. Martina, a
noble and beautiful virgin, suffered martyrdom, be-
ing variously tortured, and afterwards beheaded;
and Hippolitus, a Christian prelate, was tied to a
wild horse, and dragged through fields, stony places,
bushes, &c. till he died.

While this persecution continued, numerous Chris-
tians were slain without trial, and buried indiscrimi-
nately in heaps : sometimes fifty or sixty being cast
into a pit together. Maximus died in a. d. 238 ; he

SEVETH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 71

was succeeded by Gordian, during whose reign, and
that of his successor Philip, the church was free from
persecution for the space of more than ten years ;
but in the year 249, a violent persecution broke out
in Alexandria, It is, however, worthy of remark,
that this was done at the instigation of a pagan priest,
without the emperor's privity. At this time the fury
of the people being great among the Christians, the
mob broke open their houses, carried away the best
of their property, destroyed the rest, and murdered
the owners ; the universal cry being, " Burn them,
burn them ! kill them, kill them I" The names of
the martyrs have not been recorded, with the ex-
ception of the three following : Metrus, an aged and
venerable Christian, who, refusing to blaspheme his
Saviour, was beaten with clubs, pricked with sharp
reeds, and at length stoned to death. Quinta, a Chris-
tian woman, being carried to the temple, and refus-
ing to worship the idols there, was dragged by her
feet over sharp flint stones, scourged with whips,
and at last despatched in the same manner as Metrus.
And Apollonia, an ancient maiden lady, confessing
herself a Christian, the mob dashed out her teeth
with their fists, and threatened to burn her alive. A
fire was accordingly prepared for the purpose, and
she fastened to a stake ; but requesting to be unloos-
ed, it was granted, on a supposition that she meant
to recant, when, to their astonishment, she immedi-
ately threw herself into the flames, and was con-
sumed.

THE SEVENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

In the year 249, Decius being emperor of Rome,
a. dreadful persecution was begun against the Chris-
tians. This was occasioned partly by the hatred he
bore to his predecessor Philip, who was deemed a
Christian, and partly by his jealousy concerning the

72 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

amazing increase of Christianity; for the heathen
temples were almost forsaken, and the Christian
churches crowded with proselytes. Decius, provok-
ed at this, attempted, as it were, to extirpate the
name of Christian ; and, unfortunately for the cause
of the gospel, many errors had about this time crept
into the church ; the Christians were at variance with
each other; and a variety of contentions ensued
amongst them. The heathens, in general, were am
bitious to enforce the imperial decrees upon this oc-
casion, and looked upon the murder of a Christian
as a merit to themselves. The martyrs were there
fore innumerable.

Martyrdom of Fabian and others.

Fabian, bishop of Rome, was the first person of
eminence who felt the severity of this persecution.
The deceased emperor, Philip, had, on account of
his integrity, committed his treasure to the care of
this good man ; but Decius, not finding as much as
his avarice made him expect, determined to wreak
his vengeance on the good prelate. He was accord-
ingly seized ; and on the 20th January, a. d. 250,
suffered martyrdom, by decapitation.

Julian, a native of Cilicia, as we are informed by
St. Chrysostom, was seized upon for being a Chris-
tian. He was frequently tortured, but still remained
inflexible ; and though often brought from prison for
execution, 'was again remanded, to suffer greater
cruelties. He, at length, was obliged to travel for
twelve months together, from town to town, in order
to be exposed to the insults of the populace. When
all endeavours to make him recant his religion were
found ineffectual, he was brought before his judge,
stripped, and whipped in a dreadful manner. He
was then put into a leather bag, together with a num-
ber of serpents, scorpions, &c, and in that condition
thrown into the sea.

SEVENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 73

Peter, a young man. amiable for the superior qua-
lities of his body and mind, was apprehended as a
Christian, at Lampsacus, and carried before Opti-
mus, proconsul of Asia. On being commanded to
sacrifice to Yenus, he said, " I am astonished that
you should wish me to sacrifice to an infamous wo-
man, whose debauches even your own historians re-
cord, and whose life consisted of such actions as your
laws would punish. — No! I shall offer to the true
God the sacrifice of prayer and praise."

Optimus, on hearing this, ordered him to be stretch-
ed upon a wheel, by which all his bones were broken
in a shocking manner ; but his torments only inspir-
ed him with fresh courage ; he smiled on his perse-
cutors, and seemed, by the serenity of his counte-
nance, not to upbraid, but to applaud his tormentors.
At length the proconsul commanded him to be be-
headed ; which was immediately executed.

Denisa, a young woman, only sixteen years of age,
who beheld this terrible judgment, suddenly exclaim-
ed, " O. unhappy wretch, why would you buy a mo-
ment's ease, at the expense of a miserable eternity ?"
Optimus, hearing this, called to her, and asked if she
was a Christian? She replied in the affirmative ; and
refused to sacrifice to the idols. Optimus, enraged
at her resolution, gave her over to two libertines,
who took her to their home, and made many at-
tempts upon her chastity, but without effect. At
midnight, however, they were deterred from their
design by a frightful vision, which so amazed them,
that they fell at the feet of Denisa, and implored her
prayers that they might not feel the effects of divine
vengeance for their brutality. But this event did not
diminish the cruelty of Optimus ; for the lady was
beheaded soon after by his order.

Trypho and Respicius, two -eminent men, were

seized as Christians, and imprisoned at Nice. They

were soon after put to the rack, which they bore

with admirable patience for three hours, and uttered

7

74 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

the praises of the Almighty the whole time. They
were then exposed naked in the open air, which be-
numbed all their limbs. When remanded to prison,
they remained there for a considerable time; and
then the cruelties of their persecutors were again
evinced. Their feet were pierced with nails ; they
were dragged through the streets, scourged, torn with
iron hooks, scorched with lighted torches, and at
length beheaded, on the 1st of February, a. d. 251.
Agtha, a Cicilian lady, was remarkable for her
beauty and endowments ; her beauty was indeed so
great, that Gtuintain, governor of Sicily, became ena-
moured of her, and made many attempts upon her
virtue. The governor being known as a great liber-
tine, and a bigoted pagan, the lady thought proper
to withdraw from the town, but was discovered in
her retreat, apprehended, and brought to Catana;
when, finding herself in the power of an enemy, both
to her soul and body, she recommended herself to
the protection of the Almighty, and prayed for death.
In order to gratify his passion with the greater con-
veniency, the governor transferred the virtuous lady
to Aphrodica, an infamous and licentious woman,
who tried every artifice to win her to the desired
prostitution ; but all her efforts were in vain. When
Aphrodica acquainted Quintain with the inefficacy of
her endeavours, he changed his desire into resent-
ment ; and, on her confessing that she was a Chris-
tian, he determined to gratify his revenge. He,
therefore, ordered her to be scourged, burnt with
red-hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks. Having
borne these torments with admirable fortitude, she
was next laid naked upon live coals, intermingled
with glass, and being carried back to prison, she
there expired on the 5th of February, a. d. 25L

Martyrdom of Cyril.

Cyril, bishop of Gortyna, was seized by order of
Lucius, the governor of that place, who first exhort-

SEVENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 75

ed him to obey the imperial mandate, perform the
sacrifices, and save his venerable person from de-
struction ; for he was then eighty-four years of age.
The good prelate replied, that he could not agree to
any such requisitions ; but as he had long taught
others to save their souls, that now he should only
think of his own salvation. When the governor
found all his persuasion in vain, he pronounced sen-
tence against the venerable Christian, in these words ;
u I order that Cyril, who has lost his senses, and is a
declared enemy of our gods, shall be burnt alive."
The good worthy prelate heard this sentence with-
out emotion, walked cheerfully to the place of exe-
cution, and underwent martyrdom with great resolu-
tion.

Persecutions in Crete.

At the Island of Crete, the persecution raged with
fury ; for the governor being exceedingly active in
executing the imperial decrees, that place streamed
with the blood of many Christians. The principal
Cretan martyrs, whose names have been transmitted
to us, are as follow ; Theodulus, Saturnius, and En-
ropus, were inhabitants of Gortina, who had been
grounded in their faith by Cyril, bishop of that city;
and Eunicianas, Zeticus, Cleomenes, Agathopas,
Bastides, and Euaristus, were brought from different
parts of the island on accusations of professing Chris-
tianity.

At the time of their trial, they were commanded
to sacrifice to Jupiter, which declining, the judge
threatened them with the severest tortures. To
these menaces they unanimously answered, " That
to suffer for the sake of the Supreme Being would,
to them, be the sublimest of pleasures." The judge
then attempted to gain their veneration for the hea-
then deities, by descanting on their merits, and re-
counting some of their mythological histories. This
gave the prisoners an opportunity of remarking on

76 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

the absurdity of such fictions, and pointing out the
folly of paying adoration to ideal deities, and real
images. Provoked to hear his favourite idols ridi-
culed, the governor ordered them all to be put to the
rack ; the tortures of which they sustained with sur-
prising fortitude. They at length suffered martyr-
dom, a. d. 251 ; being all beheaded at the same time.

Martyrdom of Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, and others.

Babylas, a Christian of liberal education, became
bishop of Antioch in a. d. 237, on the demise of Ze-
binus. He governed the church during those tem-
pestuous times with admirable zeal and prudence.
The first misfortune that happened to Antioch dur-
ing- his mission, was the siege of it by Sapor, king of
Persia ; who, having overrun all Syria, took and
plundered this city among others, and used the Chris-
tian inhabitants with greater severity than the rest.
His cruelties, however, were not lasting, for Gor-
dian, the emperor, appearing at the head of a pow-
erful army, Antioch was retaken, the Persians driven
entirely out of Syria, pursued into their own coun-
try, and several places in the Persian territories fell
into the hands of the emperor. On Gordian's death,
in the reign of Decius, that emperor came to Anti-
och, where, having a desire to visit an assembly of
Christians, Babylas opposed him, and refused to let
him come in. The emperor dissembled his anger at
that time ; but soon sending for the bishop, he sharp-
ly reproved him for his insolence, and then ordered
him to sacrifice to the pagan deities as an expiation
for his supposed crime. Having refused this, he was
committed to prison, loaded with chains, treated with
great severities, and then beheaded, together with
three young men who had been his pupils. On go-
ing to the place of execution, the bishop exclaimed,
"Behold me and the children that the Lord hath
given me." They were martyred a. d. 251 ; and
the chains w T orn by the bishop in prison were buried
with him.

SEVENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 77

The emperor Decius having erected a pagan tem-
ple at Ephesus, in the year 251, he commanded all
who were in that city to sacrifice to the idols. This
order was nobly refused by seven of his own soldiers,
viz. : Maximianus, Martianus, Joannes, Malches,
Dionysius, Constantinus, and Seraion. The empe-
ror, wishing to prevail on the soldiers to prevent their
fate by his entreaties and lenity, gave them a respite
till he returned from a journey. But in the absence
of the emperor, they escaped, and hid themselves in a
cavern ; which he being informed of at his return,
the mouth of the cavern was closed up and they were
all starved to death.

Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antioch, on
refusing to sacrifice to the Roman idols, was con-
demned to the brothel, that her virtue might be sa-
crificed. Didymus, a Christian, then disguised him-
self in the habit of a Roman soldier, went to the
house, informed Theodora who he was, and prevail-
ed on her to make her escape in his dress. Thus
being found in the brothel, instead of the lady, he
was taken before the president, to whom confessing
the truth, sentence of death was immediately pro-
nounced against him. In the mean time Theodora,
hearing that her deliverer was likely to suffer, came
to the judge, threw herself at his feet, and begged
that the sentence might fall only on her as the guilty
person ; but the inflexible judge condemned both ; and
they were executed accordingly, being first behead-
ed and their bodies afterwards burnt.
7*

78 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

Account of Origen.

Origen, the celebrated presbyter and catechist of
Alexandria; at the age of sixty-four, was seized,
thrown into a loathsome prison, loaded with chains,
his feet placed in the stocks, and his legs extended
to the utmost for several days. He was threatened
with fire, and tormented by every means that the
most infernal imagination could suggest But his

O Oct

Christian fortitude bore him through all ; indeed such
was the rigour of his judge, that his tortures were
ordered to be lingering, that death might not too
soon put a period to ''his miseries. During this cruel
temporizing the emperor Decius died, and Gallus,
who succeeded him, engaging in a war with the
Goths, the Christians met with a respite. In this in-
terim Origen obtained his enlargement, and retiring
to Tyre, remained there till his death, which happen-
ed when he was in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

THE EIGHTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

After the death of Gallus, TEmilian, the general,
having many enemies in the army, was slain, and Va-
lerian was elected to the empire. This emperor, for
the space of four years, governed with moderation,
and treated the Christians with peculiar lenity and
respect ; but in the year 257, an Egyptian magician,
named Macrianus, gained a great ascendency over
him, and persuaded him to persecute them. Edicts
were accordingly published, and the persecution,
which began in the month of April, continued for
three years and six months.

The martyrs that fell in this persecution were in-
numerable, and their tortures and deaths as various.
The most eminent were the following :

Rufma and Secunda were two beautiful and ac-
complished ladies, daughters of Asterius, a gentleman
of eminence in Rome. Rufma, the elder, was de-

EIGHTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 79

signed ill marriage for Armentarius, a young noble-
man : and Secunda, the younger, for Yerinus, a per-
son of rank, and immense wealth. These suiters, at
the time the persecution commenced, were both.
Christians ; but when danger appeared, to save their
fortunes, they renounced their faith. They took
great pains to persuade the ladies to do the same, but
failed in their purpose ; and as a method of safety,
Rufina and Secunda left the kingdom. The lovers,
finding themselves disappointed, informed against the
ladies, who being' apprehended as Christians, were
brought before Junius Donatus, governor of Rome.
After many remonstrances, and having undergone
several tortures, they sealed their martyrdom with
their blood, by being beheaded in the year 257.

In the same year, Stephen, bishop of Rome, was
beheaded, and about that time Saturnius, bishop of
Thoulouse, was attacked and seized by the rabble of
that place, for preventing, as they alleged, their ora-
cles from speaking. On refusing to sacrifice to the
idols, he was treated with many barbarous indigni-
ties, and then fastened by the feet to the tail of a
bull. On a certain signal the enraged animal was
driven down the steps of the temple, by which the
martyr's brains were dashed out ; and the small
number of Christians in Thoulouse, had not for some
time courage sufficient to carry off the dead body:
at length two women conveyed it away, and depo-
sited it in a ditch. This martyr was an orthodox and
learned primitive Christian, and his doctrines are
held in high estimation.

Stephen was succeeded by Sextus as bishop of
Rome. He is supposed to have been a Greek by
birth, or extraction, and had for some time served
in the capacity of a deacon, under Stephen. His
great fidelity, singular wisdom, and courage, distin-
guished him upon many occasions; and the fortunate
conclusion of a controversy with some heretics, is
generally ascribed to his prudence. Macrianus, who

80 BOOK OF MARTYR^.

had the management of the Roman government in the
year 258, having procured an order from the emperor
Yalerian, to put to death all the Christian clergy in
Rome, and the Senate having testified their obedience
to this mandate, Sextus was" one of the first that felt
its severity. Cyprian tells ns that he was beheaded
August 6, a. d. 258 ; and that six of his deacons suf-
fered with him.

Martyrdom of St. Laurence.

Laurentius, generally called St. Laurence, the
principal of the deacons, who taught and preached
under Sextus, followed him to the place of execu-
tion ; when Sextus predicted that he should meet
him in heaven three days after. Laurentius consi-
dering this as a certain indication of his own ap-
proaching martyrdom, at his return collected all the
Christian poor, and distributed among them the trea-
sures of the church, which had been committed to
his care, thinking that the money could not be better
disposed of, or less liable to fall into the hands of the
heathens. His conduct alarmed the persecutors,
who seized on him, and commanded him to give an
immediate account to the emperor of the church
treasures.

Laurentius promised to satisfy them, but begged a
short respite to put things in proper order ; when
three clays being granted him, he was suffered to de-
part ; whereupon with great diligence, he collected
together a great number of aged, helpless, and im-
potent poor, and repairing to the magistrate, present-
ed them to him, saying, " These are the true trea-
sures of the church."

Provoked at the disappointment, and fancying the
matter meant in ridicule, the governor ordered him
to be immediately scourged. He was then beaten
with iron rods, set upon a wooden horse, and had
his limbs dislocated. He endured these tortures

EIGHTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 81

with siich fortitude and perseverance, that he was
ordered to be fastened to a large gridiron, with a
slow fire under it, that his death might be the more
tedious. But his astonishing constancy during these
trials, and his serenity of countenance while under
such excruciating torments, gave the spectators so
exalted an idea of the dignity and truth of the Chris-
tian religion, that many immediately became converts.
Having lain for some time upon the gridiron, the
martyr called out to the emperor, who was present,
in a kind of jocose Latin distich, made extempore,
which may be translated thus :

" This side enough is toasted,

Then turn me, tyrant, and eat ;
And see, whether raw or roasted,
I am the better meat."

On this the executioner turned him, and after hav-
ing lain a considerable time longer, he had still
strength and spirit enough to triumph over the tyrant,
by telling him, with great serenity, that he was roast-
ed enough, and only wanted serving up. He then
cheerfully lifted up his eyes to heaven, and with calm-
ness yielded his spirit to the Almighty. This happen-
ed on August 10, a. d. 258.

Persecutions in Africa — Account of Cyprian,

Fourteen years previous to this period, the perse-
cution raged in Africa with peculiar violence ; and
many thousands received the crown of martyrdom,
among whom the following were the most distin-
guished characters ;

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was an eminent pre-
late, and a great ornament of the church. His doc-
trines were orthodox and pure ; his language easy
and elegant ; and his manners graceful. He was said
to be so perfect a master of rhetoric and logic, and

82 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

so complete in the practice of elocution, and the
principles of philosophy, that he was made professor
of those sciences in his native city of Carthage, whero
he taught with great success. He was educated in
the principles of gentilism, and -having a considera
ble fortune, he lived in great splendour and pomp.
Gorgeous in attire, luxurious in feasting, vain of a
numerous retinue, and fond of every kind of fash-
ionable parade, he seemed to fancy that man was born
to gratify all his appetites, and created for pleasure
only. About the year 246, Coecilius, a Christian min-
ister of Carthage, became the instrument of Cyprian's
conversion ; on which account, and for the great love
that he always afterwards bore for his adviser, he
was termed Coecilius Cyprian.

Before his baptism he studied the scriptures with
care, and being struck with the beauties of the truths
they contained, he determined to practice the virtues
they recommended. He sold his estate, distributed
the money among the poor, dressed himself in plain
attire, and commenced a life of austerity and soli
tude. Soon after his baptism he was made a pres-
byter ; and being greatly admired for his virtues and
his works, on the death of Donatns. in a. d. 248, he
was almost unanimously elected bishop of Carthage.
The care of Cyprian not only extended over Car-
thage, but to Numidia and Mauritania. In all his trans-
actions he took great care to ask the advice of his
clergy, knowing that unanimity alone could be of
service to the church ; this being one of his maxims,
(t That the bishop was in the church, and the church
in the bishop ; so that unity can only be preserved
by a close connexion between the pastor and his
flock."

In the year 250, he was publicly proscribed by the
emperor Decius, under the appellation of Coecilius
Cyprian, bishop of the Christians ; and the univer-
sal cry of the Pagans was, " Cyprian to the lions !
Cyprian to the beasts !"

EIGHTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 83

The bishop, however, withdrew from the rage of
the populace, and his effects were immediately con-
fiscated. Daring his retirement he wrote thirty pious
letters to his flock ; but several schisms that then
crept into the church gave him great uneasiness.
The rigour of the persecution abating, he returned
and did every tiling in his power to expunge errone-
ous opinions and false doctrines. A terrible plague
now breaking out at Carthage, it was, as usual, laid
to the charge of the Christians ; and the magistrates
began to persecute accordingly, which occasioned an
epistle from them to Cyprian, in answer to which he
vindicates the cause of Christianity.

Cyprian was brought before the proconsul Aspa-
sius Paternus, a. d. 257, when being commanded to
conform to the religion of the empire, he boldly made
a confession of his faith. This, however, did not oc-
casion his death, but an order was made for his ban-
ishment, which exiled him to a little city on the Li-
byan sea. On the death of the proconsul who ban-
ished him, he returned to Carthage, but was soon
after seized, and carried before the new governor,
who condemned him to be beheaded : on the 14th
of September, a. d. 25S, this sentence was executed.

Fate of the Emperor Valerian.

This tyrant, who had so long and so terribly per-
secuted the Christians, was taken prisoner by Sa-
pores, king of Persia, who carried him into his own
country, and there treated him with the most unex-
ampled indignity, making him kneel down as the
meanest slave, and treading upon him as a footstool
when he mounted his horse ; saying, in a vaunting
manner, " This posture is a greater proof which way
the victory went, than all the pictures the Roman
artists can draw."

Having kept him, for the space of seven years, in
this abject state of slavery, he at last caused his eyes

84 ROOK OF MARTYRS.

to be put out, though he was then eighty-three years of
age : and his desire of revenge not being satisfied, he
soon after ordered his body to be flayed alive, and
rubbed with salt, under which torments he expired.
Gallienus, the son of Valerian, succeeded him a.
d. 260, and during his reign, the empire suffered
many commotions, particularly earthquakes, pesti-
lence, .inundations, intestine broils, and incursions of
barbarians. This emperor reflecting, that when his
father favoured the Christians he prospered, and that
when he persecuted them he was unsuccessful, de-
termined to relax the persecution ; so that (a few
martyrs excepted) the church enjoyed peace for
some years.

THE NINTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

In the year 274, the emperor Aurelian commenc-
ed a persecution against the Christians : the princi-
pal of the sufferers was Felix, bishop of Rome. This
prelate was advanced to the Roman see in 274, and
was beheaded in the same year, on the 22d of De-
cember. Agapetus, a young gentleman, who sold his
estate, and gave the money to the poor, was seized
as a Christian, tortured, and then brought to Prae-
neste, a city within a day's journey of Rome, where
he was beheaded. These are the only martyrs left
upon record during this reign, as it was soon put a
stop to by the emperor's being murdered by his own
domestics, at Byzantium. Aurelian was succeeded
by Tacitus, who was followed by Probus, as was the
latter by Cams : this emperor being killed by a thun-
der-storm, his sons, Carinus and Numerian, succeed-
ed him ; and during all these reigns, the church en-
joyed rest.

Diocletian mounting the imperial throne, a. d. 274,
at first showed great favour to the Christians. In the

NINTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 85

year 286, he associated Maximian with him in the
empire ; and the following Christians were put to
death before any general persecution broke out —
Felician and Primus, two brothers. They were seiz-
ed by an order from the imperial court ; and own-
ing themselves Christians, were accordingly scourg-
ed, tortured, and finally beheaded. Marcus and Mar-
cellianus were twins, natives of Rome, and of noble
descent. Their parents were heathens, but the tu-
tors to whom the education of the children was in-
trusted, brought them up as Christians. Being ap-
prehended on account of their faith, they were se-
verely tortured, and then sentenced to be beheaded.
A respite of a month was obtained for them by their
friends, when their father, mother, and all their re-
lations, attempted to bring them back to Paganism,
but in vain. At last their constancy subdued their
persuaders, and their parents and whole family be-
came converts to a faith they had just before con-
demned.

Tranquili nus, the father of the two young men,
was sent for by the prefect, to give him an account
of the success of his endeavours : when he confessed,
that so far from having persuaded his sons to forsake
the faith they had embraced, he was become a Chris-
tian himself. He then stopped till the magistrate had
recovered from his surprise, and resuming his dis-
course, he used such powerful arguments, that he
made a convert of him, who soon after sold his es-
tate, resigned his command, and spent the remainder
of his days in a pious retirement.

The prefect who succeeded the above-mentioned
concert, had nothing of the disposition of his prede-
cessor : he was morose and severe, and soon seized
upon the whole of this Christian race, who were ac-
cordingly martyred by being tied to posts, and hav
ing their feet pierced with nails. After remaining in
this situation for a day and a night, their sufferings
8

SO BOOK OF MARTYRS.

were put an end to by thrusting lances through their
bodies.

Zoe, the wife of the gaoler, who had the care of
the before mentioned martyrs, being greatly edified
by their discourses, had a desire to become a Chris-
tian : this, as she was dumb with a palsy, she could
only express by gestures. They gave her instruc-
tions in the faith, and told her to pray in her heajt
to God to relieve her from her disorder. She did
so, and was at length relieved : for her paralytic dis-
order by degrees left her, and her speech returned
again. This enforced her belief, and confirmed her
a Christian : and her husband, finding her cured, be-
came a convert himself. These conversions made a
great noise, and the proselytes were apprehended,
Zoe was commanded to sacrifice to Mars, which re-
fusing, she was hanged upon a tree, and a fire of straw
lighted under her. When her body was taken down,*
it was thrown into a river, with a large stone tied to
it, in order to sink it.

Massacre of a ivhole Legion of Christian Soldiers.

A very remarkable affair occurred in a. d. 286.
A legion of soldiers, consisting of 6666 men, contain-
ed none but Christians. This legion was called the
Theban legion, because the men had been raised in
Thebias : they were quartered in the East till the
emperor Maximian ordered them to march to Gaul,
to assist him against the rebels of Burgundy ; when
passing the Alps under the command of Mauritius,
Candidus, and Exupernis, they at length joined the
emperor. About this time, Maximian ordered a gen-
eral sacrifice, at which the whole army were to as-
sist ; and he commanded that they should take oaths
of allegiance, and swear, at the same time, to assist
him in the extirpation of Christianity in Gaul.

Terrified at these orders, each individual of the
Theban legion absolutely refused either to sacrifice,
or take the oaths prescribed. This so greatly enrag-

NINTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 87

ed Maximian, that he ordered the legion to be deci-
mated, that is, every tenth man to be selected from
the rest, and put to the sword. This cruel order
having been put into execution, those who remained
alive were still inflexible, when a second decimation
took place, and again every tenth man of those liv-
ing was put to the sword.

But this second severity made no more impression
than the first ; the soldiers preserved their fortitude
and their principles ; but, by the advice of their offi-
cers, drew up a remonstrance to the emperor, in
which they told him, " that they were his subjects
and his soldiers, but could not at the same time for-
get the Almighty ; that they received their pay from
him, and their existence from God. While your
commands (said they) are not contradictory to those
of our common master, we shall always be ready to
obey, as we have been hitherto ; but when the or-
ders of our prince and those of the Almighty differ,
we must always obey the latter. Our arms are de-
voted to the emperor's use, and shall be directed
against his enemies ; but we cannot submit to stain
our hands with effusion of Christian blood ; and how,
indeed, could you, O emperor, be sure of our alle-
giance and fidelity, should we violate our obligation
to our God, in whose service we were solemnly en-
gaged before we entered the army ? You command-
ed us to search out and to destroy the Christians :
it is not necessary to look any farther for persons of
that denomination ; we ourselves are such, and we
glory in the name. We saw our companions fall
without the least opposition or murmuring, and
thought them happy in dying for the sake of Christ.
Nothing shall make us lift up our hands against our
sovereign ; we had rather die wrongfully, and by that
.means preserve our innocence, than live under a load
of guilt : whatever you command, we are ready to
suffer : we confess ourselves to be Christians, and
therefore cannot persecute Christians, nor sacrifice
to idols."

88 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

Such a declaration, it might be presumed, would
have softened the emperor, but it had a contrary ef-
fect ; for, enraged at their perseverance and unani-
mity, he commanded that the whole legion should be
put to death, which was accordingly executed by the
other troops, who cut them to pieces with their
swords.

This barbarous transaction happened on the 22d
of September, a. d. 286 ; and such was the invete-
rate malice of Maximian, that he sent to destroy
every man of a few detachments that had been draft-
ed from the Theban legion, and despatched to Italy.

Alban^ the first British Martyr.

Alban, from whom St. Alban's, in Hertfordshire,
received its name, was the first British martyr. He
was originally a Pagan, and being of a humane dis-
position, he sheltered a Christian ecclesiastic, named
Amphibalus, who was pursued on account of his re-
ligion. The pious example and edifying discourses
of the refugee, made a great impression on the mind
of Alban ; he longed to become a member of a reli-
gion which charmed him ; the fugitive minister, hap-
py in the opportunity, took great pains to instruct
him ; and, before his discovery, perfected Alban's
conversion.

Alban now took a firm resolution to preserve the
sentiments of a Christian, or to die the death of a
martyr. The enemies of Amphibalus, having intelli-
gence of the place where he was secreted, came to
the house of Alban, in order to apprehend him. The
noble host, desirous of protecting his guest, changed
clothes with him, in order to Facilitate his escape ;
and when the soldiers came, offered himself up as
the person for whom they were seeking. Being ac-
cordingly carried before the governor, the deceit
was immediately discovered ; and Amphibalus being
absent, that officer determined to wreak his ven-
geance upon Alban : with this view he commanded

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 89

the prison 3r to advance to the altar, and sacrifice to
the Pagan deities. The brave Alban, however, re-
fused to comply with the idolatrous injunction, and
boldly professed himself to be a Christian. The gov-
ernor therefore ordered him to be scourged, which
punishment he bore with great fortitude, seeming to
acquire new resolution from his sufferings : he was
then beheaded.

The venerable Bede states, that upon this occa-
sion, the executioner suddenly became a convert to
Christianity, and entreated permission either to die
for Alban or with him. Obtaining the latter request,
they were beheaded by a soldier, who voluntarily
undertook the task. This happened on the 22d of
Jane, a. d. 2S7, at Yerulam, now St. Alban's, in
Hertfordshire, where a magnificent church was erect-
ed to his memory, about the time of Constantine the
Great. This edifice was destroyed in the Saxon wars,
but was rebuilt by Offa, king of Mercia, and a monas-
tery erected adjoining to it, some remains of which
are still visible.

THE TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION UNDER THE
ROMAN EMPERORS.

Notwithstanding the efforts of the heathens to ex-
terminate the Christians, and abolish their mode of
faith, yet they increased so greatly as to become for-
midable by their numbers. They, however, forgot
the precepts of their meek prototype, and instead of
adopting his humility, they gave themselves up to
vanity, by dressing gayly, living sumptuously, build-
ing stately edifices for churches, &c, which created
a general envy, and particularly excited the hatred
of Galerius, the adopted son of Diocletian, who, stim-
ulated by his mother, a bigoted Pagan, persuaded
the emperor to commence a persecution. It accord-
ingly began on the 23d of Februarv, a. d. 303, that

8*

90 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

being the day on which the Terminalia were cele-
brated, and on which, as the Pagans boasted, they
hoped to put a termination to Christianity.

The persecution began in Nicomedia : the prefect
of that city repaired, with a great number of officers
and assistants, to the church of the Christians, where,
having forced open the doors, they seized upon all
the sacred books, and committed them to the flames.
This transaction took place in the presence of Dio-
cletian and Galerius, who also caused the church to
be levelled with the ground. It was followed by a
severe edict, commanding the destruction of all other
Christian churches and books ; and an order soon
succeeded, the object of which was to render Chris-
tians of all denominations outlaws, and consequent-
ly to make them incapable of holding any place of
trust, profit, or dignity ; or of receiving any protec-
tion from the legal institutions of the realm. An im
mediate martyrdom was the result of the publication
of this edict ; for a bold Christian not only tore it
down from the place to which it was affixed, but ex-
ecrated the name of the emperor for his injustice and
cruelty : he was in consequence seized, severely tor-
tured, and then burnt alive. The Christian prelates
were likewise apprehended and imprisoned ; and Ga-
lerius privately ordered the imperial palace to be set
on fire, that the Christians might be charged as the
incendiaries, and a plausible pretext given for carry-
ing on the persecution with the greatest seventy.

A general sacrifice of the Christians.

A general sacrifice was then commanded, which
occasioned various martyrdoms. Among others, a
Christian, named Peter, was tortured, broiled, and
then burnt ; several deacons and presbyters were
seized upon, and executed by various means ; and
the bishop of Nicomedia, named Anthimus, was be-
headed. So great was the persecution, that there
was no distinction made of age or sex, but all were

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 91

indiscriminately massacred. Many houses were set
on fire, and whole Christian families perished in the
flames ; others had stones fastened about their necks,
and were driven into the sea. The persecution be-
came general in all the Roman provinces, but more
particularly in the East ; and as it lasted ten years,
it is impossible to ascertain the numbers martyred,
or to enumerate the various modes of martyrdom :
some were beheaded in Arabia ; many devoured by
wild beasts in Phoenicia ; great numbers were broil
ed on gridirons in Syria ; others had their bones bro-
ken, and in that manner were left to expire in Cap-
padocia ; and in Mesopotamia, several were hung
with their heads downwards, over a slow fire, and
suffocated. In Pontus, a variety of tortures -were
used ; in particular, pins were thrust under the nails
of the prisoners, melted lead was poured upon them,
but without effect. In Egypt, some Christians were
buried alive in the earth, others were drowned in the
Nile, many were hung in the air till they perished,
and great numbers were thrown into large fires, &c.
Scourges, racks, daggers, swords, poisons, crosses, and
famine, were made use of in various parts to despatch
the Christians ; and invention was exhausted to de-
vise tortures against them.

A town of Phrygia, consisting entirely of Chris-
tians, was surrounded by a number of Pagan soldiers,
to prevent any from escaping ; they then set the town
on fire, and all the inhabitants perished in the flames.

Provincial Governors address the Emperor to stop
the persecution.

At last, several governors of provinces represent-
ed to the imperial court, that "it was unfit to pollute
the cities with the blood of the inhabitants, or to de-
fame the government of the emperors with the death
of so many subjects." Hence many were respited
from execution ; but though not put to death, they
were subjected to every species of indignity. Many

92 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

had their ears cut off, their noses slit, their right eyes
put out, their limbs dislocated, and their flesh seared
in conspicuous places, with red-hot irons.

Account of some who suffered.

Among those who forfeited their lives during this
bloody persecution, was Sebastian, a celebrated holy
man, who was born at Narbonne in Gaul, instructed
in the principles of Christianity at Milan, and after-
wards became an officer of the emperor's guard at
Home. He remained a true Christian in the midst
of idolatry ; unallured by the splendours of a court,
and untainted by evil examples ; esteemed by the
most eminent, beloved by his equals, and admired by
his inferiors, he lived happily, and kept his faith and
place, till the rigour of the persecution deprived him
of life. He was informed against, and betrayed to
Fabian the Roman prsetor, by Torquatus, a pretend-
ed Christian ; but being of a rank too considerable
to be put to death without the emperor's express or-
ders, Diocletian was made acquainted with the cir-
cumstance.

The emperor, on hearing the accusation, sent for
Sebastian, and charged him with ingratitude, in be-
traying the confidence reposed in him, and being an
enemy to the gods of the empire and to himself.
To this he answered, that his religion was of a good,
not a pernicious tendency, and that it did not stimu-
late him to any thing against the welfare of the em-
pire, or the emperor, and that the greatest proof he
could give of his fidelity, was the praying to the only
true God for the health and prosperity of his impe-
rial person. Incensed at this reply, the emperor or-
dered him to be taken to a field near the city, term-
ed the Campus Martins, and there to be shot to death
with arrows ; which sentence was accordingly exe-
cuted. A few Christians attended at the place of
execution, in order to give his body burial, perceiv-
ed signs of life in him, and moved him to a place of

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 93

security ; they in a short time effected his recovery,
and prepared him for a second martyrdom ; for as
soon as he was able to walk, he placed himself in-
tentionally in the emperor's way as he was going to
the temple. The unexpected appearance of a per-
son supposed to be dead, greatly astonished the em-
peror, nor did the words of the martyr less surprise
him ; for he began with great severity to reprehend
him for his various cruelties, and for his unreasona-
ble prejudices against Christianity.

When Diocletian had overcome his surprise, he
ordered Sebastian to be seized, carried to a place
near the palace, and beat to death ; and that the
Christians should not either use means again to re-
cover or bury his body, he ordered that it should be
thrown into the common sewer. Nevertheless, a
Christian lady named Lucina, found means to remove
it from the sewer, and bury it in the catacombs.

A Pagan father seeks to sacrifice his own son.

Vitus, a Sicilian of a considerable family, was
brought up a Christian ; his virtues increased with
his years, his constancy supported him under all his
afflictions, and his faith was superior to the most
dangerous perils and misfortunes. Hylas, his father,
who was a Pagan, finding that he had been instruct-
ed in the principles of Christianity by the nurse who
brought him up, used all his endeavours to bring him
back to paganism ; but finding his efforts in vain, he
forgot all the feelings of a parent, and informed
against his son to Valerian, governor of Sicily, who
was very active in persecuting the Christians at this
period.

This youth, when apprehended upon the informa-
tion of his father, was little more than twelve years
of age ; Valerian, therefore, on account of his tender
age, thought to frighten him out of his faith : he was
accordingly threatened, and ordered to be severely
scourged.

\

*

94 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

After this, the governor sent him back to his father,
thinking that what he had suffered would make him
change his principles ; but in this he was mistaken ;
and Hylas, finding his son inflexible, suffered nature
to sink under superstition, and determined to sacri-
fice his son to the idols. On being apprized of his
design, Vitus escaped to Lucania, where, being seiz-
ed, he was by order of Valerian put to death, June
14, a. d. 303. His nurse Crescentia, who brought
him up as a Christian, and Modestus, a person who
escaped with him, were martyred at the same time,
but the manner is unknown.

There was one Victor, a Christian of a good fami-
ly at Marseilles, in France, who spent a great part
# of the night in visiting the afflicted, and confirming
the weak, which pious \vc\rk he could not, consistent-
ly AvitfNrie ow& safety, perform in the day-time ; and
his fortune^e spent in relieving the distresses of
poor Christians. His actions becoming known, he
was seized by the emperor's orders, and being carried
before two prefects, they advised him to embrace pa-
ganism, and not forfeit the favour of his prince, on ac-
count of a dead man, as they styled Christ : in answer
to this he replied, " That he preferred the service
of that dead man, who was in reality the Son of God,
and had risen from the grave, to all the advantages
he could receive from the emperor's favour : that he
was a soldier of Christ, and would therefore take
care that the post he held under an earthly prince,
should never interfere with his duty to the King of
Heaven." For this reply, Victor was loaded with
reproaches ; but being a man of rank, he was sent to
the emperor to receive his final sentence. When
brought before him, Maximian commanded him, un-
der the severest penalties, to sacrifice to the Roman
idols ; and on his refusal, ordered him to be bound,
and dragged through the streets. During the execu-
tion of this order, he was treated by the enraged po-
pulace with all manner of indignities. Remaining,

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 95

however, inflexible, his courage was deemed obstina-
cy ; to which he replied, " That the ready disposi-
tion of the disciples of Christ to undergo any suffer-
ings on that score, and the joy with which they met
the most ignominious and painful deaths, were suffi-
cient proofs of their assurance of the object of that
hope." He added, " That he was ready to give an
example of what he had said in his own person."
When stretched upon the rack, he turned his eyes
towards heaven, and prayed to God to give him pa-
tience ; after which he underwent the tortures with
admirable fortitude. The executioners being tired
with inflicting the torments, he was taken from the
rack, and conveyed to a dungeon. During his con-
finement, he converted the jailers, named Alexander,
Felician, and Longinus. This affair coming to the
knowledge of the emperor, he ordered them imme-
diately to be put to death, and they were beheaded
accordingly. A^ictor was afterwards again put to the
rack, beaten with clubs, and then again sent to his
dungeon. Being a third time examined concerning
his religion, he persevered in his principles ; a small
altar was then brought, and he was commanded to
offer incense upon it immediately ; but at the request
he boldly stepped forward, and with his foot over-
threw both altar and idol. The emperor Maximian,
who was present, was so enraged at this, that he
ordered the foot with which he had kicked the altar
to be immediately cut off, and Victor to be thrown
into a mill, and crushed to pieces with the stones.
This horrid sentence was put into execution ; but
part of the apparatus breaking, he was drawn from
the mill terribly bruised ; and the emperor not hav-
ing patience to stay till it was mended, ordered his
head to be struck off, which was executed accord-
ingly.

96 BOOK OP MARTYRS. * r

Persecutions in Africa.

It was in the year 304 the persecution of Diocle-
tian again began to prevail, and many Christians
were put to cruel tortures, and the most painful
deaths ; the most eminent of these were Saturninus,
a priest of Albitina, a town of Africa : he used to
preach and administer the sacrament to a society of
Christians, who privately assembled at the house of
Octavius Felix ; having been informed against, Sa-
turninus, with four of his children, and several other
persons, were apprehended : and that their punish-
ment might be more exemplary and public, they
were sent to Carthage, the capital of Africa, where
they were examined before Anulinus, the proconsul
of that quarter of the globe.

Saturninus, on the examination, gave such spirited
answers, and vindicated the Christian religion with
such eloquence, as showed that he was worfhy to
preside over an assembly that possessed a faith of
purity and truth. Anulinus, enraged at his argu
ments, ordered him to be stopped from saying any
more, by being put to a variety of tortures, such as
scourging, tearing his flesh with hooks, burning with
hot irons, &c. Having been thus inhumanly tortured,
he was remanded to prison, and there starved to
death. His four children, notwithstanding they were
variously tormented, remained steady in their faith ;
on which they were sent back to the dungeon in
which their father was confined, and were also starv-
ed to death in the same manner.

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 97

Martyrdom of three Sisters.

Three sisters, Chionia, Agape, and Irene, were
seized upon at Thessalonica. They had been edu-
cated in the Christian faith, but had taken great pre-
cautions to remain unknown. They therefore re-
tired to a solitary place, and spent their hours in per-
forming religious duties. Being, however, discover-
ed and seized, they renounced their former timidity,
blamed themselves for being so fearful, and begged
of God to strengthen them against the great "trial
they had to undergo.

When Agape was examined before Dulcatius, the
governor, and was asked whether she was disposed to
comply with the laws of the land, and obey the man-
dates of the emperor, she answered, u That being
a Christian, she could not comply with any laws
which recommended the worship of idols and devils ;
that her resolution was fixed, and nothing could de-
ter her from continuing in it." Her sister Chionia
replied in the same manner ; when the governor, not
being able to draw them from their faith, pronounced
sentence of condemnation on them ; pursuant to
which they were burnt, March 25, a. d. 304.

Irene was then brought before the governor, who
fancied that the death of her sisters would have an
effect upon her fears, and that the dread of similar
sufferings would engage her to comply with his pro-
posals. He therefore exhorted her to acknowledge
the heathen deities, to sacrifice to them, to partake
of the victims, and to deliver up her books relative
to Christianity. Bat she positively refused to com-
ply with any of them: the governor asked her who it
was that persuaded her and her sisters to keep those
books and writings ? She answered, it was that God
who commanded them to love him to the last ; for
which reason she was resolved to submit to be burn-
ed alive, rather than give them up into the hands of
his professed enemies.

98 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

When the governor found that he could make no
impression on her, he ordered her to be exposed
naked in the streets : which shameful order having 1
been executed, she was burnt, April, a. d. 304, at
the same place where her sisters had suffered before
her.

Martyrdom of Tlteodotus and others,

Theotecnus, the governor of Dal matia, whose cru-
elty could be equalled by nothing but his bigotry, re-
ceived the mandate for persecuting the Christians
with great satisfaction, and wrote the emperor word
that he would do his utmost endeavours to root out
Christianity from every place under his jurisdiction.
Thus encouraged by the governor, the pagans began
to inform against, abuse, and persecute the Christians.
Great numbers were seized upon and imprisoned ;
their goods were destroyed, and their estates confis-
cated. Many fled into the woods, or retired to caves,
where some supported themselves by feeding upon
roots, and others perished by famine. Many were
also starved in the city, by means of the following
singular stratagem : The governor gave strict orders,
that no provisions whatever should be exposed to
sale in the markets, without having been first conse-
crated to the idols : hence the Christians were com-
pelled to eat what had been offered to the devil or
to refrain from food and perish. The latter dread-
ful alternative was chosen by many, who, to preserve
the purity of their faith, heroically gave up their
lives.

In these dreadful times Theodotus, a Christian
inn-keeper of Ancyra, did all that he could to com-
fort the imprisoned, and buried the bodies of several
who had been martyred, though it was forbidden on
pain of death. He likewise privately assisted many
with food ; for having laid in a large stock of corn
and wine, he sold it at prime cost.

Polychronicus, a Christian, being seized, forfeited

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 99

his faith in order to preserve his life, and informed
against his friend Theodotus, who, hearing of his
treachery, surrendered himself to the governor of his
own accord.

On his arrival in the court, he surveyed the in-
struments of torture with a smile, and seemed totally
regardless of their effects. When placed at the bar,
the governor informed him, that it was still in his
power to save himself, by sacrificing to the gods of
the empire ; " and," he continued, " if you renounce
your faith in Christ, I promise you my friendship,
and the emperor's protection, and will constitute
you one of the magistrates of the town."

Theodotus displayed great courage and eloquence
in his answer : he absolutely refused to renounce his
faith, declined the friendship of the governor and
protection of the emperor, and treated the idols with
the greatest contempt. The pagans on this were in
general extremely clamorous against the prisoner,
and demanded him to be immediately punished ; the
priests in particular rent their clothes, and tore their
chaplets, the badges of their offices, through rage.
The governor complied with their desire, when
Theodotus was scourged, torn with hooks, and then
placed upon the rack. After this, vinegar was pour-
ed into his wounds, his flesh was seared with burning
torches, and his teeth were knocked out of their
sockets. He was then remanded to prison, and as
he went, pointing to his mangled body, he said to the
people, " It was but just that Christians should suffer
for him who suffered for us all." Five days after-
wards he was brought from prison, tortured, and then
beheaded.

Julitta, a Lycaonian of royal descent, was a Chris-
tian lady of great humility, constancy, and integrity.
When the edict for sacrificing to idols was published
at Iconium, she withdrew from that city, taking with
her only her young son Cyricus, and two female ser*

100 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

vants. She was however seized at Tarsus, and be-
ing carried before Alexander, the governor, she ac-
knowledged she was a Christian. For this confes-
sion her son was taken from her, and she was imme-
diately put to the rack, and tortured with great seve-
rity, which she bore with pious resignation. The
child, however, cried bitterly to get at his mother ;
when the governor, observing the beauty, and being
melted at the tears of the infant, took him upon his
knee, and endeavoured to pacify him. Nothing, how-
ever, could quiet Cyricus ; he still called upon his
mother, and at length, in imitation of her words,
lisped out, " I am a Christian." This innocent ex-
pression turned the governor's compassion into rage ;
and, throwing the child furiously against the pave-
ment, he dashed out his brains. The mother, who
from the rack beheld the transaction, thanked the
Almighty that her child was gone before her ; and
she should have no anxiety concerning his future
welfare. To complete the torture, boiling pitch was
poured on her feet, her sides were torn with hooks,
and she was finally beheaded, April 1 6, a. d. 305.

Pantaleon, a native of Nicomedia, was instructed
by his father in the learning of the pagans, and was
taught the precepts of the gospel by his mother, who
was a Christian. Applying to the study of medicine,
he became eminent in that science, and was appoint-
ed physician to the emperor Galerius. The name
of Pantaleon in Greek signifies humane^ and the ap-
pellation well suited his nature, for he was one of
the most benevolent men of his time ; but his ex-
traordinary reputation roused the jealousy of the
pagan physicians, who accused him to the emperor.
Galerius, on finding him a Christian, ordered him
to be tortured, and then beheaded, which sentence
was accordingly executed on July 27, a. d. 305.

Hennolaus, an aged and pious Christian, and an
intimate acquaintance of Pantaleon, suffered martyr*

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 101

dom for his faith on the same day, and in the same
manner.

Juitta, of Cappadocia, was a lady of distinguished
abilities, great virtues, and uncommon courage; she
was put to death in consequence of the accusation of
a heathen who had usurped her estates, and bribed
the judges in his favour. Refusing to offer incense to
therPagan deities, she was burnt to death.

Dorothea, a Christian of Cappadocia, was, by the
governor's order, placed under the care of two
women, who had become apostates to the faith, in
order that she might be induced to follow their ex-
ample. But her discourses had such an effect upon
the two apostates, that they were reconverted, and
put to death ; soon after which, Dorothea was tor-
tured, and then beheaded.

Pancratius was a native of Phrygia, but being made
a Christian, and brought to Rome, by his uncle, he
there suffered martyrdom,

Cyrinus, Nazarius, Nabor, and Basilides, four
Christian officers, at Rome, were thrown into prison
for their faith, scourged with rods of wire, and then
beheaded.

Two Roman military officers, Nicander and Mer-
cian, were apprehended on the same account. As
they were both men of great abilities, the utmost en-
deavours were made to induce them to renounce
Christianity ; but being without effect, they were
ordered to be beheaded. The execution was attend-
ed by vast crowds of the populace, among whom
were the wives of the two sufferers. The consort
of Nicander was a Christian, and encouraged her
husband to meet his fate with fortitude ; but the wife
of Marcian being a Pagan, entreated her husband to
save himself, for the sake of her and her child. Mar-
cian, however, reproved her for her idolatry and
folly, but tenderly embraced her and the infant
Nicander likewise took leave of his wife in the most
affectionate manner, and then both, with great reso-
9*

102 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

lution, received the crown of martyrdom. Besides
these there were many others, whose names and suf-
ferings are not recorded by the ancient historians.

Martyrdoms in Naples.

In the kingdom of Naples several imartyrdoms took
place : in particular, Januarius, bishop of Beneven-
tum ; Sosins, deacon of Misene ; Proculus, another
deacon ; Eutyches and Acutius, two laymen ; Fes-
tus, a deacon ; and Desiderius, a curate, were all
condemned, by the governor of Campania, to be de-
voured by wild beasts for professing Christianity.
The animals, however, not touching them, they were
beheaded.

Marcellus, a centurion of the Trajan legion, was
posted at Tangier, and being a Christian, suffered
martyrdom, under the following circumstances :

While he was there, the emperor's birth-day was
kept, and the sacrifices to the pagan idols made a
considerable part of that solemnity. All the subjects
of the empire were expected, on that occasion, to
conform to the blind religion of their prince ; but
Marcellus, who had been well instructed in the du-
ties of his profession, expressed his detestation of
those profane practices, by throwing away his belt,
the badge of his military character, at the head of
his company, declaring aloud^that lie was a soldier
of Christ, the eternal king. He then quitted his arms,
and added, that from that moment he ceased to serve
the emperor; and that he thus expressed his con-
tempt of the gods of the empire, which were no bet-
ter than deaf and dumb idols. " If," continued he,
" their imperial majesties impose the obligation of
sacrificing to them and their gods, as a necessary con-
dition of their service, 1 here throw up my commis-
sion, and quit the army." This behaviour occasioned
an order for his being beheaded. Cassian, secretary
to the court which tried Marcellus, expressing his
disapprobation of such proceedings, was ordered

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 103

into custody ; when avowing himself a Christian, he
met with the same fate.

Martyrdom of St. George.
George was born in Cappadocia, of Christian pa-
rents; by whom he was instructed in the tenets of
the gospel. His father dying when he was young,
he travelled with his mother into 'Palestine, which
was her native country, where she inherited an es-
tate, which afterwards descended to her son. George,
being active and spirited, became a soldier, and was
made a tribune or colonel. In this post he exhibit-
ed great proofs of his courage, and was promoted in
the army of Diocletian. During the persecution, he
threw up his command, went boldly to the senate-
house, and avowed his being a Christian, taking oc-
casion at the same time to remonstrate against pagan-
ism. This conduct so greatly provoked the senate,
that he was ordered to be tortured, which he under-
went with great constancy. He was afterwards, by
the emperor's orders, dragged through the streets
and beheaded.

Constantine becomes the champion of the Christians.
Constantino the Great at length determined to re-
dress the grievances of the Christians, for which pur-
pose he raised an army of 30,0(30 foot and 8,000
horse, with which he marched towards Rome, against
Maxentius, the emperor. But reflecting on the fatal
miscarriages of his predecessors., who had maintain-
ed a multiplicity of gods, and reposed an entire con-
fidence in their assistance ; and considering that while
his own father adored only one God he continually
prospered ; Constantine rejected the adoration of
idols, and implored the assistance of the Almighty ;
who heard his prayers, and answered them in aman-
ner so surprising and miraculous, that Eusebius ac-
knowledges it would not have been credible, had he
not received it from the emperor's own mouth, who
publicly and solemnly ratified the truth upon his oath.

104 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The vision of Constantine.

This vision of Constantine appears, upon the whole,
to be entitled to little credit. Some ecclesiastical
historians, indeed, and among them Milner, seem to
admit the reality of the miracle ; but the weight of
evidence is certainly against it. Dr. Haweis gives
up the miracle altogether, and pronounces it "on
imposition." " The whole story," says the transla-
tor of Mosheim, " is attended with difficulties which
render it, both as a miracle and a fact, extremely
dubious." To this it may be added, that Eusebius,
who has transmitted the account to us, and to whom
Constantine related it, does not himself appear to
have believed it. Neither the day nor the year, the
time nor the place of the vision, is recorded. No
evidence exists that any of the army saw the pheno-
menon ; and, more than all, why, if Constantine be-
lieved it himself, did he neglect to be baptized till
on his death bed, many years after the occurrence is
said to have happened ? In short, there is reason to
believe it to have been a political fabrication — an
artful contrivance to stimulate the army to greater
zeal in the then approaching contest. — Ed.

The army being advanced near Rome, and the
emperor employed in his devout ejaculations, on the
27th day of October, about three o'clock in the af-
ternoon, when the sun was declining, there suddenly
appeared to him a pillar of light in the heavens, in
the form of a cross, with this plain inscription on or
about it, " In this overcome." Constantine was great-
ly surprised at this strange sight, which was visible
to the whole army, who equally wondered at it with
himself. The officers and commanders, prompted
by the augurs and auspices, or sooth-sayers, looked
upon it as aa inauspicious omen, portending an un-
fortunate expedition ; the emperor himself did not
understand it, till at length our Saviour appeared to
him in a vision, with the cross in his hand, command-
ing him to make a royal standard, like that he had

TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 105

seen in the heavens, and cause it to be continually
carried befoie his army, as an ensign both of victory
and safety. Early the next morning, Constantine
informed his friends and officers of what he had seen
in the night, and sending for proper workmen, sat
down by them and described to them the form of the
standard, which he then ordered them to make with
the greatest art and magnificence ; and accordingly
they made it thus ; a long spear, plated with gold,
with a transverse piece at the top, in the form of a
cross, to which was fastened a four-square purple
banner, embroidered with gold, and beset with pre-
cious stones, which reflected an amazing lustre : to-
wards the top was depicted the emperor between his
two sons ; on the top of the shaft, above the cross,
stood a crown, overlaid with gold and jewels, within
which was placed the sacred symbol, namely, the
two first letters of Christ in Greek, X and P, struck,
one through the other : this device he afterwards
bore not only upon his shields, but also upon his
coins, many of which are still extant.

Death of Maximits and Licinius.

Afterwards engaging Maxentius, he defeated him,
and entered the city of Rome in triumph. A law
was now published in favour of the Christians, in
which Licinius joined with Constantino, and a copy
of it was sent to Maximus in the East. Maximus,
who was a bigoted pagan, greatly disliked the edict,
but being afraid of Constantine, did not, however,
openly avow his disapprobation of it. At length, he
invaded the territories of Licinius; but being de-
feated, pat an end to his life by poison. The "death
of Maxentius has already been described.

Licinius was not really a Christian, but affected to "
appear such, through dread of Constantine's power;
for even after publishing several edicts in favour of
the Christians, he put to death Blase, bishop of Se-
baste, several bishops and priests of Egypt and Ly-

106 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

bia, who were cut to pieces, and thrown into the sea;
and forty soldiers of the garrison of Sebaste, who suf-
fered martyrdom by fire. This cruelty and hypoc-
risy greatly incensed Constantine ; he marched against
Licinius. and defeated him, and that commander was
afterwards slain by his own soldiers,
tion.

REMARKS ON THE VENGEANCE OF GOD TOWARDS
THE PERSECUTORS OF THE CHRISTIANS.

We cannot close our account of the ten persecu-
tions under the Roman emperors, without calling the
attention of the Christian reader to the manifestations
of the great displeasure of the Almighty against the
persecutors. History evidently proves, that no na-
tion or individual can ultimately prosper, by whom
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is condemned. Du-
ring the persecutions of the holy martyrs which we
have related above, the Roman people were the vic-
tims of the cruelty and tyranny of their rulers, and
the empire was perpetually torn and distracted by
civil wars. In the reign of Tiberius, five thousand
were crushed to death by the fall of a theatre, and
on many other occasions the divine wrath was mani-
fested against that cruel and merciless nation.

Neither did the emperors themselves escape with-
out their just reward. Tiberius was murdered; as
were his three immediate successors. Galba, after
a reign of only seven months, was put to death by
Otho, who, being vanquished by Vitellius, killed him-
self. Yitellius, shortly after, was tortured, and his
body thrown into the Tiber. Titus is said to have
been poisoned by his brother Domitian, who was af-
terwards slain by his wife. Commodus was stran-
gled. Pertinax and Didius were put to death ; Se-
verus killed himself; Caracalia slew his brother Geta,
and was in his turn slain by Macrinus, who, with his
son, was afterwards killed by his own soldiers. He-

VENGEANCE TOWARDS THE PERSECUTORS. 107

liogabalus was put to death by the people. Alexan-
der Severus, a virtuous emperor, was murdered by
Maximums, who was afterwards slain by his own
army. Pupienus and Balbinus were murdered by the
Praetorian guards. Gordian and Philip were slain,
Decius was drowned, and his son killed in battle.
Gall us and Volusianus were murdered by iEmilia-
nus, who within three months afterwards was him-
self slain. Valerian was taken prisoner by the Per
sians, and at length flayed alive, and his son Gallle-
nus was assassinated. Aureliau was murdered ; as
were Tacitus, Florianus, and Probus. Galerius died
in a miserable manner^ as did Maxi minus of a horri-
ble and loathsome disease. Maxentius, being con-
quered by Constantiue, was drowned in his attempt
to escape ; and Licinius was deposed, and slain by
his soldiers^

The Jews, also, for their obstinacy and wicked-
ness in rejecting the gospel so graciously offered to
them by Jesus Christ," were signally punished. For-
ty years had scarcely elapsed from the crucifixion of
our Saviour, when Jerusalem was levelled with the
ground, and more than a million of the Jews killed ;
innumerable multitudes sold for slaves ; and many
thousands torn to pieces by wild beasts, or otherwise
cruelly slain. Indeed, the nation may be said to have
been annihilated — its political existence was termi-
nated, and the descendants of that people, which was
once peculiarly favoured of God, are now scattered
over the face of the earth — a by-word and a reproach
amons: the nations.

Thus it is evident that wickedness and infidelity
are certainly, though sometimes slowly, punished by
Him who is just, although merciful : and if he has
hitherto graciously refrained from visiting the sins of
this nation with the punishment which they deserve,
let us not be vain of that exemption ; let us not at-
tribute it to any merit of our own ; but rather let it
afford an additional motive to our or-ratitudc and

108 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

praise ; let us unfeignedly thank him for his tender
"mercies daHy vouchsafed to us ; and, while we bow
before him in humble adoration, let us earnestly en-
deavour to preserve our worship of him free from
all ungodliness and superstition. So shall we not only
secure our happiness in this world, but, in the end,
attain everlasting joy and felicity, through the merits
of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who
gave up himself as a precious sacrifice for our trans-
gressions.

BOOK II.

An account of the persecutions of the Christians in Persia by Sa-
poresll. ; in Egypt, &c. by the Arian heretics j by Julian the
Apostate; by the Goths, Vandals, &c. &c

SECTION I.
PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS IN PERSIA.

In consequence of the gospel having spread itself
into Persia, the pagan priests becan:e greatly alarm-
ed, dreading the loss of their influence over the minds
of their people. Sapores II., the grandson of Sa-
pores I., at this time swayed the sceptre of Persia,
a. d. 32S. To him, therefore, the priests complain-
ed of the Christians, representing them to be the ene-
mies of Persia, and secretly carrying on a corres-
pondence with the Roman government. Naturally
averse to Christianity, the jealousy and hatred of Sa-
pores were greatly increased by the above represen-
tations of the priests, and orders were issued for the
persecution of the Christians, throughout the Per-
sian empire. Two other persecutions followed the
above; but the third, it is said, was more cruel and
destructive than either of the others.

PERSECUTIONS IN PERSIA. 109

Martyrdom of Simeon and others.

In consequence of the above mandate of Sapores,
Simeon, archbishop of Seleucia, with many other ec-
clesiastics, to the number of 128, were apprehended
and accused of having betrayed the affairs of Persia
to the Romans. The emperor, being greatly exas-
perated against them, ordered Simeon to be brought
before him. The archbishop in his presence boldly
acknowledged his faith, and defended the cause of
Christianity. The emperor, offended at his freedom,
ordered him to kneel before him as lie had hereto-
fore done. To this Simeon answered, " That being
now brought before him a prisoner, for the truth of
his religion, it was not lawful for him to kneel, lest
he should be thought to worship a man, and betray
his faith to his God." Whereupon the emperor told
him, that if he did not kneel, he and all the Chris-
tians in his dominions should be put to death ; but
Simeon still rejected the command with disdain.
The emperor then ordered him to be sent to prison.

A short time after, Simeon, with his fellow prison-
ers, was again examined, and commanded to worship
the sun, agreeably to the Persian custom ; but this
they unanimously refused. The emperor then sen-
tenced them to be beheaded, which sentence was
accordingly executed.

An aged eunuch, named Usthazares, who had been
tutor to the emperor, and was in great estimation at
court, meeting Simeon as he was led to prison, sa-
luted him. Simeon, however, (as Usthazares had
formerly been a Christian, and had apostatized to
oblige the emperor,) would not return his salute, but
reproved him for his apostacy. This so affected the
eunuch, that he burst into tears, and exclaimed,
" Ah ! how shall I hereafter look upon my God,
whom I have denied, when Simeon, my old compa-
nion and familiar acquaintance, disdains to give me
a gentle word, or to return my salute ! ;;
10

110 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The emperor, learning that his ancient tutor waa
greatly afflicted, sent for him, and asked him whether
he desired any thing which could he procured for
him ; to which the eunuch replied, u That there was
nothing that he wanted, which this earth could af-
ford ; but that his grief was of another kind, and for
which he justly mourned, namely, that to oblige his
Sovereign he had denied his God, and had dissem-
blingly worshipped the sun, against his own con-
science ; for which," continued he, " I am deserving
of a double death* ; first for denying of Christ, and
secondly, for dissembling with my king."

The emperor, greatly offended at this speech, or-
dered Usthazares to be beheaded ; who therefore re-
quested that it might be proclaimed, " That Ustha-
zares did not die for any crime against the emperor or
state ; but pnly that being a Christian, he would not
deny his God." This petition was granted, and was
a great satisfaction to Usthazares, whose chief rea-
son for desiring it was, because his falling off from
Christ had caused many others to follow his exam-
ple ; who now hearing that he died for no crime but
his religion, might, like him, return to Christ, and
the faith. Usthazares then cheerfully yielded his
neck to the sword.

Soon after the above execution, an edict was pub-
lished, ordering that all who confessed themselves
Christians, should be^ put to death ; which caused
the destruction of multitudes. About this time the
empress of Persia falling sick, the sisters of Simeon,
the archbishop, were accused by some of the magi
of causing this calamity. This report being credit-
ed, they were, by the emperor's orders, sawed in
quarters, and their limbs fixed upon poles, between
which the empress passed, as a charm to effect the
restoration of her health.

Acepsimus, and many other ecclesiastics, were
seized, and ordered to adore the sun ; which refus-
ing, they were scourged, and then tormented to death,

PERSECUTIONS IN PERSIA. Ill

or kept in prison till they expired. Athalas, a priest,
though not put to death, was so miserably racked
thai his arms were rendered useless ; and he was
ever after obliged to be fed like a child. In short,
by this edict, above 16,000 persons either suffered
horribly by torture, or lost their lives.

Constantine writes to the king of Persia^ in favour
of the Christians,

When Constantine the Great was informed of the
persecutions in Persia, he was much concerned, and
began to reflect in what manner he should redress
their grievances, when an ambassador arrived from
the Persian emperor, upon some political business.
Constantine received him courteously, granted his
demands, and wrote a letter to the Persian monarch
in favour of the Christians, in which he alluded to
the vengeance that had fallen on persecutors, and
the success that had attended those who had refrain-
ed from the persecution ; and then referring to the
tyrants and persecuting emperors of his own time,
he said, " I subdued those solely by faith in Christ ;
for which God was my helper, who gave me victory
in battle, and made me triumph over my enemies ;
and hath so enlarged to me the bounds of the Roman
empire, that it extends from the Western Ocean, al-
most to the uttermost parts of the East : for which
purpose I neither offered sacrifices to the ancient
deities, nor made use of charm or divination'*; but
only offered up prayers to the almighty God, and
followed the cross of Christ ; and how glad should I
be to hear that the throne of Persia flourished, by
embracing the Christians ! that so you with me, and
they with you, may enjoy all the felicity your souls
could desire : as undoubtedly you would, God, the
Almighty Creator of all things, becoming your pro-
tector and defender. These men, therefore, 1 com-
mend to your honour ; I commit them unto you, de-
siring you to embrace them with humanity ; for in so

112 V book: of martyrs.

doing, you will procure to yourself grace through
faith, and bestow on me a benefit worthy of my
thanks."

In consequence of this appeal, the persecution end-
ed during the life of Sapores ; but it was renewed
under his successors.

SECTION II.

PERSECUTIONS BY THE ARIAN HERETICS.

The sect denominated the Arian Heretics, had its
origin from Arius,* a native of Lybia, and priest of
Alexandria, who, in a. d. 318, began to publish his
errors. He was condemned by a council of Lybian
and Egyptian bishops, and the sentence was confirm-
ed by the council of Nice, a. d. 325. After the death
of Constantine the Great, the Arians found means to
ingratiate themselves into the favour of Constantius,
his son and successor in the East ; and hence a per-
secution was raised against the orthodox bishops and
clergy. The celebrated Athanasius, and other bish-
ops, were banished at this period, and their sees fill-
ed with Arians.

In Egypt and Lybia, thirty bishops were martyr-
ed, and many other Christians cruelly tormented ;
and a. d. 336, George, the Arian bishop of Alexan-
dria, under the authority of the emperor, began a per-
secution in that city and its environs, which- was
continued with the utmost severity. He was assist-
ed by Catophonius, governor of Egypt ; Sebastian,
general of the Egyptian forces ; Faustinus, the trea-
surer ; and a Roman officer, named Heraclius. In-
deed, so fierce was this persecution, that the clergy
were driven from Alexandria, their churches were

* Arius, the founder of this sect of heretics, and the first cause
of the persecutions which are related in this section, died misera-
bly at Constantinople, just as he was about to enter the church in
triumph,

ARIAN PERSECUTIONS. 113

shut, and the severities practised by the Arian here-
tics were as great as those which had been exercised
by the pagan idolaters. If a man accused of being
a Christian made his escape, his whole family were
massacred, and his effects forfeited. By this means
the orthodox Christians, being deprived of all places
of public worship in the city of Alexandria, used to
perform their devotions in a desert at some distance
from it. Having one Lord's day met for worship^
George, the Arian bishop, engaged Sebastian, the
general, to fall upon them with his soldiers, while
they were at prayers ; and many were sacrificed tc
the fury of the troops, while others were reserved
for more cruel and lingering deaths ; some were bea
ten on their faces till all their features were disfigur-
ed ; or were lashed with twigs of palm-trees, with
such violence, that they expired under the blows, or
by the mortification of the wounds. Several, whose
lives had been spared, were, however, banished to
the deserts of Africa, where, amidst all their sufferings,
they passed their time in prayer.

Secundus, an orthodox priest, differing in point of
doctrine from a prelate of the same name, the bishop,
who had imbibed all the opinions of Arianism, deter-
mined to put Secundus to death, for rejecting opin-
ions which he himself had embraced. He therefore
went with one Stephen, an Arian also, sought out
Secundus privately, fell upon and murdered him ;
the holy martyr, just before he expired, calling upon
Christ to receive his soul, and to forgive his enemies.

At this time, not satisfied with the cruelties exer-
cised upon the orthodox Christians in Alexandria,
the principal persecutors applied to the emperor for
an order to banish them from Egypt and Lybia, and
to give up their churches to the Arians : they obtain-
ed their request, and an order was sent for that pur-
pose to Sebastian, who signified the emperor's plea-
sure to all the sub-governors and officers. Hence a
great number of the clergy were seized and impri-
10*

t

114 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

soned ; and it appearing that they adopted the opin-
ions of Athanasius, an order was signed for their ba-
nishment into the desert. While the orthodox cler-
gy were thus used, many of the laity were condemn-
ed to the mines, or compelled to work in the quar-
ries. Some few, indeed, escaped to other countries,
and several were weak enough to renounce their
faith, in order to avoid the severities of the persecu-
tors.

Persecution of Paid.

Paul, the bishop of Constantinople, was a Mace
donian, and had been designed, from his birth, for a
clerical life. When Alexander, the predecessor of
Paul, was on his death-bed, he was consulted by
some of the clergy on the choice of a successor ;
when he told them. " That if they were disposed to
choose a person of exemplary life, and thoroughly
capable of instructing the people, Paul was the man ;
but if they had rather have a man acquainted with
worldly affairs, and fit for the conversation of a court,
they might then choose Macedonius." This latter
was a deacon in the church of Constantinople, in
which office he had spent many years, and gained
great experience ; and the dying prelate did. both
him and Paul justice in their different characters.
Nevertheless ; the Arians gave out, that Alexander
had bestowed great commendations on Macedonius
for sanctity, and had only given Paul the reputation
of eloquence, and a capacity for business : after some
struggle the orthodox party carried their point, and
Paul was consecrated. Macedonius, offended at this
preference, did his utmost to calumniate the new
bishop; but not gaining belief, he dropped the charge,
and was reconciled to him. This, however, was not
the case with Eusebius of Nicomedia, who accused
Paul of having led a disorderly life before his conse-
cration ; and of having been placed in the see of
Constantinople without the consent of the bishops of

ARIAN PERSECUTIONS. 115

Nicomedia and Heraclea, two metropolitans, who
ought to have been consulted upon that occasion.

Eusebius, to support these accusations, procured
the emperor's authority, by representing that Paul
having been chosen during the absence of Constan-
tius ; the imperial dignity had been insulted. This
artifice succeeded, and Paul being deposed, Eusebius
succeeded him.

Paul having thus lost all authority in the East,
retired to the territories of Constans, in the west,
where he was well received by the orthodox prelates
and clergy. At Rome he visited Athanasius, and as-
sisted at a council held there, by Julius, the bishop
of that see. Letters being written by this council to
the eastern prelates, Paul returned to Constantino-
ple, but was not restored to his bishopric till the
death of Eusebius. The Arians, however, constitu-
ting Macedonius their bishop, by the title of bishop
of Constantinople, a kind of civil war ensued, in
which many were put to death.

Constantius, the emperor, who was then at Anti-
och, hearing of this schism, laid the whole blame
upon Paul, and ordered that he should be driven
from Constantinople. But Hermogenes, the officer
who had received the emperor's order, attempted in
vain to put it into execution ; being slain by the or-
thodox Christians, who had risen in defence of Paul.
This event greatly exasperated the emperor, who
left Antioch in the depth of winter, and returned to
Constantinople, with a design to punish the Chris-
tians. He, however, contented himself with banish-
ing Paul, and suspending Macedonius, Paul then
again retired to the territories of Constans, implored
the protection of "that emperor, and, by his interces-
sion, was again vested in his see. His re-establish-
ment exasperated his enemies, who made many at-
tempts against his life, against which the affections
of his people were his only security ; and being con-
vinced that the emperor had no other motive for al-

116 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

lowing his stay al Constantinople, but the dread of
disobliging his brother, Paul could not think himself
wholly restored to his bishopric ; and being very
much concerned at what the orthodox bishops suf-
fered from the power and malice of the Arian fac-
tion, he joined Athanasius, who was then in Italy, in
soliciting a general council. This council was held
at Sardica, in Illyrium, in the year 347, at which
were present one hundred bishops of the western,
and seventy-three of the eastern empire. But dis-
agreeing in many points, the Arian bishops of the
East retired to Philipopolis, in Thrace ; and form-
ing a meeting there, they termed it the council of
Sardica, from which place they pretended to issue
an excommunication against Julius, bishop of Rome ;
Paul, bishop of Constantinople ; Athanasius, bishop
of Alexandria ; and several other prelates. In the
year 350, the emperor Constans died, which gave
the Arian s fresh courage, and they applied to the
emperor Constantius, who, being inclined towards
the Arians, wrote an order to the prefect Philip, to
remove Paul from the bishopric of Constantinople,
and to restore Macedonius. Paul was then exiled to
Cucucus, confined in a dark dungeon for six days,
without food, and then strangled. He met death
with uncommon fortitude.

The Arian party now made Gregory of Cappadocia,
a very obscure person, bishop of Alexandria, after
having deposed Athanasius. In the accomplishment
of this affair, they were assisted by Philagerius. the
governor of Egypt, who was an apostate, and who
authorized them to commit every outrage. Hence,
arming themselves with swords, clubs, <fcc. they broke
into one of the principal churches of Alexandria,
where great numbers of orthodox Christians were
assembled at their devotions ; and falling upon them
in a most barbarous manner, without the least re-
spect to sex or age, butchered the greater number.
Potamo, a venerable bishop of Heraclea. who had

PERSECUTIONS BY JULIAN. 117

formerly lost one of his eyes in Diocletian's perse-
cution, fell a martyr upon this occasion ; being so
cruelly scourged and beaten that he died of his
wounds. The Arians also broke into many places,
public and private, under a pretence of searching for
Athanasius, and committed innumerable barbarities ;
robbing orphans, plundering the houses of widows,
dragging virgins to private places to be the sacrifices
of desire, imprisoning the clergy, burning churches
and dwelling-houses belonging to the orthodox Chris-
tians ; besides other enormous cruelties.

SECTION III.

PERSECUTIONS UNDER JULIAN THE APOSTATE.

Julian the Apostate was the son of Julius Con-
stantius, and the nephew of Constantine the Great.
He studied the rudiments of grammar under the in-
spection of Mardonius, a eunuch, and a heathen.
His father sent him afterwards to Nicomedia, to be
instructed in the Christian religion, by Eusebius, his
kinsman ; but his principles were corrupted by the
pernicious doctrines of Maximus the magician, and
Ecebolius the professor of rhetoric.

Constantius died in the year 361, when Julian
succeeded him. But he had no sooner attained the
imperial dignity, than he renounced Christianity and
embraced paganism. He again restored idolatrous
worship, by opening the several temples that had
been shut up, rebuilding such as were destroyed,
and ordering the magistrates and people to follow
his example ; hut he did not issue any edicts against
Christianity. He recalled all banished pagans, al-
lowed the free exercise of religion to every sect, but
deprived the Christians of all offices, civil and mili-
tary, and the clergy of the privileges granted to them
by Constantine the Great. He was chaste, temper-

118 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ate, vigilant, laborious, and apparently pious ; so
that by his hypocrisy and pretended virtues, he for a
time did more mischief to Christianity, than the
most profligate of his predecessors.

Accordingly, this persecution was more dangerous
than any of the former, as Julian, under the mask of
clemency, practised the greatest cruelty, in seeking
to delude the true believers ; and the Christian faith
was now in more danger of being subverted than it
ever had been, by means of a monarch at once witty
and wicked, learned and hypocritical ; who, at first,
made his attempts by flattering gifts and favours, be-
stowing offices and dignities ; and then, by prohib-
iting Christian schools, he compelled the children
either to become idolaters, or to remain illiterate.

Julian ordered that Christians might be treated
coldly upon all occasions, and in all parts of the em-
pire, and employed witty persons to turn them and
their principles into ridicule. Many were likewise
martyred in his reign ; for though he did not public-
ly persecute them himself, he connived at their be-
ing murdered by his governors and officers ; and
though he affected never to reward them for those
cruelties, neither did he ever panish them.

SECTION IY.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS BY THE GOTHS
AND VANDALS.

Many Scythian Goths having embraced Christian-
ity about the time of Constantine the Great, the light
of the gospel spread itself considerably in Scythia,
though the two kings who ruled that country, and
the majority of the people, continued pagans. Frite-
gern, king of the West Goths, was an ally to the Ro-
mans ; but Athanariek, king of the East Goths, was
at war with them. The Christians, in the dominions
of the former, lived unmolested, but the latter, hav-
ing been defeated by the Romans, wreaked his ven-

PERSECUTIONS BY THE GOTHS AND VANDALS. 119

geance on his Christian subjects, commencing his
pagan injunctions in the year 370.

Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, makes a most dis-
tinguished figure in the ecclesiastical history, and #
was one of the most eminent champions of Christ
against the Arian heresy. Eusebius, after being
driven from his church, and wandering about through
Syria and Palestine, encouraging the orthodox, was
restored with other orthodox prelates to his see,
which however he did not long enjoy, for an Arian
woman threw a tile at him from the top of a house,
which fractured his scull, and terminated his life in
the year 380.

The Vandals, passing from Spain to Africa in the
fifth century, under their leader Genseric, committed
the most unheard-of cruelties. They persecuted the
Christians wherever they came, and even laid waste
the country as they passed, that the Christians left
behind, who had escaped them, might not be able to
subsist. Sometimes they freighted a vessel with
martyrs, let it drift ont to sea, or set fire to it, with
the sufferers shackled on the decks.

Having seized and plundered the city of Carthage,
they put the bishop and all the clergy into a leaky
ship, and committed it to the mercy of the waves,
thinking that they must all perish of course; but
providentially the vessel arrived safe at Naples. In-
numerable orthodox Christians were beaten, scourg-
ed, and banished to Capsur, where it pleased God to
make them the means of converting many of the
Moors to Christianity ; but this coming to the ear
of Genseric, he sent orders that they and their new
converts should be tied by the feet to chariots, and
dragged about till they were dashed to pieces.

Pampinian, the bishop of Mansuetes, was tortured
to death with plates of hot iron ; the bishop of Eu-
rice was burnt, and the bishop of Habensa was ban-
ished, for refusing to deliver up the sacred books
which were in his possession.

120 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The Yandalian tyrant Genseric, having made an
expedition into Italy, and plundered the city of
Rome, returned to Africa, flushed with the success
of his arms. The Arians took this occasion to per-
suade him to persecute the orthodox Christians, as
they assured him that they were friends to the peo-
ple of Rome,

After the decease of Hun eric, his successor recall-
ed him, and the rest b£ the orthodox clergy ; the
Arians, taking the alarm, persuaded him to banish
them again, which he complied with, when Euge-
nius, exiled to Languedoc in France, died there of
the hardships he underwent on the 6th of September,
a. d. 305.

BOOK III.

History of the persecutions in various countries, between the fifth
and the tenth centuries.

SECTION I.

IERSECUTIONS FROM THE FIFTH TO THE SEVENTH

CENTURY.

Proterius was made a priest by Cyril, bishop of
Alexandria, who was well acquainted with his vir-
tues before he appointed him to preach. On the
death of Cyril, the see of Alexandria was filled by
Dioscorus, an inveterate enemy to the memory and
family of his predecessor. Being condemned by the
council of Chalcedon for having embraced the errors
of Eutyches, he was deposed, and Proterius chosen
to fill the vacant see, who was approved of by the em-
peror. This occasioned a dangerous insurrection,
for the city of Alexandria was- divided into two fac-
tions ; the one to espouse the cause of the old, and

PERSECUTIONS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 121

the other of the new prelate. In one of the commo-
tions, the Eutychians determined to wreak thier ven-
geance on Proterius, who fled to the church for sanc-
tuary ; but on Good Friday, a. d. 457, a large body
of them rushed into the church, and barbarously
murdered the prelate ; after which they dragged the
body through the streets, insulted it, cut it to pieces,
burnt it, and scattered the ashes in the air.

Hermenigildus, a G'othic prince, was the eldest
son of Leovigildus, a king of the Goths, in Spain.
This prince, who was originally an Arian, became a
convert to the orthodox faith, by means of his wife,
Ingonda. When the king heard that his son had
changed his religious sentiments, lie stripped him of
the command at Seville, where he was governor, and
threatened to put him to death, unless he renounced
the faith he had newly embraced. The prince, in
order to prevent the execution of his father's menaces
began to put himself into a posture of defence ; and
many of tire orthodox persuasion in Spain declarec
for him. The kins:, exasperated at this act of rebel
lion, began to punish all the orthodox Christians who
could be seized by his troops ; and thus a very se-
vere persecution commenced : he likewise marched
against his son at the head of a very powerful army.
The prince took refuge in Seville, from which lie
flecf, and was at length besieged and taken at Asieta.
Loaded with chains, he was sent to Seville, and at
the feast of Easter refusing to receive the Eucharist
from an Arian bishop, the enraged king ordered his
guards to cut the prince to pieces, which they punc-
tually performed, April 13, a. d. 535.

Martin, bishop of Rome, was born at Todi, in
Italy. He was naturally inclined to virtue, and his
parents bestowed on him an admirable education.
He opposed the heretics called the Monotholhelites,
who were patronised by the emperor Heraclius.
Martin was condemned at Constantinople, where he
was exposed in the most public places to the ridicule
ll

122 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

of the people, divested of all episcopal marks of dis-
tinction, and treated with the greatest scorn and se^
verity. After lying some months in prison, Martin
was sent to an island at some distance, and there cut
to pieces, a. d. 655.

John, bishop of Bergamo, in Lombardy, was a
learned man, and a good Christian. He did his ut-
most endeavours to clear the church from the errors
of Arianism, and joining in his holy work with John,
bishop of Milan, he was very successful against the
heretics, on which account he was assassinated on
July 11, a. d. 683.

Killien was bom in Ireland, and received from his
parents a pious and Christian education. He ob-
tained the Roman Pontiff's license to preach to the
pagans in Franconia, in Germany. At Wurtzburg
he "converted Gozbert, the governor, whose example
was followed by the greater part of the people in two
years after. Persuading Gozbert that his marriage
with his brother's widow was sinful, the latter had
him beheaded, a. d. 689.

SECTION II.

PERSECUTIONS FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE TENTH
CENTURY.

Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, and father of the
German church, was an Englishman, and is, in ec-
clesiastical history, looked upon as one of the bright-
est ornaments of this nation. Originally his name
was Winfrid, or Winfrith, and he was born at Kir-
ton, in Devonshire, then part of the West Saxon
kingdom. When he was only about six years of
age, he began to discover a propensity to reflection,
and seemed solicitous to gain information on reli-
gious subjects. Wolfrad, the abbot, finding that he
possessed a bright genius, as well as a strong incli-
nation to study, had him removed to Nutscelle, a

PERSECUTIONS IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 123

seminary of learning in the diocess of Winchester,
where he would have a much greater opportunity of
attaining improvement than at Exeter.

After due study, the abbot, seeing him qualified
for the priesthood, obliged him to receive that holy
order when he was about thirty years old. From
which time he began to preach, and labour for the
salvation of his fellow-creatures ; he was released to
attend a synod of bishops in the kingdom of West
Saxon. He afterwards, in 719, went to Rome,
where Gregory IL, who then sat in Peter's chair, re-
ceived him with great friendship, and finding him
full of all the virtues that compose the character of
an apostolical missionary, dismissed him with a com-
mission at large to preach the gospel to the pagans
wherever he found them. Passing through Lombar-
dy and Bavaria, he came to Thurmgia, which coun-
try had before received the light of the gospel ; he
next visited Utrecht, and then proceeded to Saxony,
where he converted some thousands to Christianity.

Pope Gregory III. succeeded to the papal chair in
731, upon whose accession Boniface sent proper per-
sons to Rome to acquaint him with the success of his
labours. The pope not only answered the message
by assuring him of the communion and friendship of
the see of Rome, but, as a mark of his respect for our
missionary, sent him the pallium, granted him the
title of archbishop, or metropolitan of all Germany,
and empowered him to erect new bishoprics.

Bavaria had at this time only one bishop ; he,
therefore, pursuant to his commission from Rome,
erected three new bishoprics, — one at Saltzbourg, a
second at Freisingent, and a third at Ratisbon, and
thus all Bavaria was divided into four diocesses.

Gregory III. was succeeded in the popedom by
Zachary, a. d, 741, and the latter confirmed Boni-
face in his power ; and approved of all he had done
in Germany, making him at the same time archbishop
of Mentz, and metropolitan over thirteen bishoprics.

124 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

During the ministry of this meek prelate, Pepin
was declared king of France. It was that prince's
ambition to be crowned by the most holy prelate he
could find, and Boniface was pitched on to perform
that ceremony, which he did at Soissons in 752.
The next year his great age and many infirmities lay
.sp- heavily on him, that with the consent of the new
* king, the bishops, &c. of his diocess, he consecrated
Luilns, his countryman, a faithful disciple, and pla-
ced him in the see of Mentz. When he had thus
eased himself of his charge, he recommended the
church of Mentz to the care of the new bishop in
very strong terms, desired he would finish the church
at Fuld, and see him buried in it, for his end was
near. Having left these orders, he took boat to the
Rhine, and went to Friesland, where he converted
and baptized several thousands of the barbarous na-
tives, demolished the temples, and raised churches on
the ruins of those superstitions structures. A day
being appointed for confirming a great number of
new converts, he ordered them to assemble in a new
open plain, near the river Bourde. Thither he re-
paired the day before ; and pitching a tent, deter-
mined to remain on the spot all night, in order to be
ready early in the morning.

Some pagans, who were his inveterate enemies,
having intelligence of this, poured down upon him
and the companions of his mission in the night, and
killed him and fifty-two of his companions and at-
tendants, on June 5, a. d. 755, Thus fell the father
of the Germanic church, the honour of England, and
the glory of the age in which he lived.

Forty-two persons of Amorian, in Upper Phrygia,
were martyred in the year 845, by Saracens, the cir-
cumstances of which transactions are as follows :

In the reign of Theophilus, the Saracens ravaged
many parts of the eastern empire, gained several
considerable advantages over the Christians, took the
city of Armonian, and numbers suffered martyrdom.

ALPHAGE. 125

- Flora and Mary, two ladies of distinction, suffered
martyrdom at the same time,

Perfectus was born at Corduba, in Spain, and
brought up in the Christian faith. Having a quick
genius, he made himself master of all the useful and
polite literature of that age ; and at the same time
was not more celebrated for his abilities than admir-
ed for his piety. At length he took priest's orders, . >
and performed the duties of his office with great as-
siduity and punctuality. Publicly declaring Maho-
met an impostor, he was sentenced to be beheaded,
and was accordingly executed, a. d. 850 ; after which
his body was honourably interred by the Christians.

Adalbert, bishop of Prague, a Bohemian by birth,
after being involved in many troubles, began to di-
rect his thoughts to the conversion of the infidels, to
which end he repaired to Dantzic, where he convert-
ed and baptized many, which so enraged the pagan
priests, that they fell upon him and despatched him
with darts, on the 23d of April, a. d. 997.

BOOK IV.

Persecutions in various countries, from the eleventh to the sixteenth
century.

SECTION I.
PERSECUTIONS IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.

Account of Archbishop Alphage.

Alphage, archbishop of Canterbury, came from a
considerable family in Gloucestershire, and received
an education suitable to his birth. His parents were
Christians, and Alphage inherited all their virtues.
He was prudent, humble, pious, and chaste : and

11*

126 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

made rapid progress both in polite literature and the-
ological learning. In order to be more at leisure to
contemplate the beauties of divine history, he deter-
mined to renounce his fortune, quit his home, and
become a recluse. He accordingly retired to a mo-
nastery of Benedictines, at Deerhurst, in Gloucester-
shire, and soon after took the habit. Here he lived
with the utmost temperance, and spent the greatest
part of his time in prayer. But not thinking the
austerities he underwent in this monastery sufficient-
ly severe, he retired to a lonely cell near Bath, and
lived in a manner still more rigid ; but some devout
persons finding out his retreat, his austere life soon
became the subject of conversation in the neighbour-
ing villages, whence many flocked to him, and beg-
ged to be taken under his pastoral care. Consenting
to their importunities, he raised a monastery near his
cell, by contributions of several well-disposed per-
sons ; formed his new pupils into a community, and
placed a prior over them. Having prescribed rules
for their regulation, he again retired to his cell, fer-
vently wishing to pass the remainder of his days in
religious security ; when the following affair again
drew him from his retreat.

The see of Winchester being vacant by the death
of Ethel wold, a dispute arose respecting a successor
to that bishopric. The clergy had been driven out
of the cathedral for their scandalous lives, but were
admitted again by king Ethelred, upon certain terms
of reformation. The monks, who had been introdu-
ced upon their expulsion, looked upon themselves as
the chapter of that church ; and hence arose a vio-
lent contest between them and the clergy who had
been re-admitted, about the election of a bishop ;
while both parties were vigorously determined upon
supporting their own man. Tins dispute at last ran
so high, that Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury) as
primate of all England, was obliged to interpose, and
he consecrated Alphage to the vacant bishopric, to

ALPHAGE. 127

the general satisfaction of all concerned in the elec-
tion.

The behaviour of Alphage was a proof of his be*
ing equal to the dignity of his vocation. Piety flour-
ished in his diocess ; unity was established among
his clergy and people ; and the conduct of the church
of Winchester made the bishop the admiration of the
whole kingdom. Dunstan had an extraordinary
veneration for Alphage, and when at the point of
death, made it his ardent request to God, that he
might succeed him in the see of Canterbury ; which
accordingly happened, though not till about eighteen
years after Dunstan's death. In the course of that
period, the metropolitan church was governed by
three successive prelates ; the last of whom was Al-
fric; upon whose decease, in 1006, Alphage was
raised to the see of Canterbury. The people belong-
ing to the diocess of Winchester, were too sensible
"of the loss they sustained by his translation, not to
regret his removal to Canterbury.

Soon after he was made archbishop, he went to
Rome, and received the pall from Pope John XYIIL

When Alphage had governed the see of Canter-
bury about four years with great reputation, the
Danes made an incursion into England. Ethelred,
who then reigned, was a prince of a very weak mind,
and pusillanimous disposition. Being afraid to face
the enemy himself, and too irresolute to furnish others
with the means of acting, he suffered his country to
be ravaged with impunity, and the greatest depreda-
tions to be committed by the enemy.

Upon this occasion, the archbishop Alphage acted
with great resolution and humanity: he went boldly
to the Danes, purchased the freedom of several whom
they had made captives; found means to send food
to others, whom he had not money enough to redeem,
and even made converts of some of the Danes : but
the latter circumstance made the Danes, who still
continued pagans, greater enemies to him than they

J 28 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

would otherwise have been, and they were determin-
ed to be revenged on him. Edric, an English male-
content and traitor, gave the Danes every encourage-
ment, and assisted them in laying siege to Canterbury.
When the design of attacking that city was known,
many of the principal people made a precipitate flight
from it, and would have persuaded Alphage to follow
their example ; but he would not listen to such a
proposal ; assured them he could not think of aban-
doning his flock at a time when his presence was
more necessary than ever, and was resolved to hazard
his life in their defence. While he was employed in
assisting his people, Canterbury was taken by storm ;
the enemy poured into the town, aud destroyed all
that came in their way. The monks endeavoured to
detain the archbishop in the church, where they
hoped he might be safe. But his concern for his
flock made him break from them, and run into the
midst of the danger. On this occasion he addressed •
the enemy, begging the people- might be saved, and
that he alone might be their victim. The barbarians
seized him, tied his hands, insulted and abused him,
and obliged him to remain on the spot till his church
was burnt, and the monks massacred. They then
decimated all the inhabitants, both ecclesiastics and
laymen, leaving only every tenth person alive : so
that they put 7236 persons to death, and left only four
monks and 800 laymen alive : after which they con-
fined the archbishop in a dungeon, where they kept
him for several months. During his confinement,
they proposed to him to purchase his liberty with the
sum of £3000, and to persuade the king to procure
their departure out of the kingdom with a farther
sum of £10,000. Alphage's circumstances not al-
lowing him to satisfy the exorbitant demand, they
bound him, and put him to severe torments, to oblige
him to discover the treasure of his church. But he
remaining inflexible, they remanded him to prison
again, confined him six days longer, and then taking

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES, 129

him with them to Greenwich, brought him to trial.
Here he exhorted them to forsake their idolatry, and
embrace Christianity. This so enraged them, that the
soldiers dragged him out of the camp, and beat hirtf
unmercifully."" Alphage bore this treatment patiently,
and even prayed for his persecutors. One of the
soldiers, who had been converted and baptized by
him, was greatly afflicted that his pains should be so
lingering, as he knew his death was determined on :
he therefore, in a kind of barbarous compassion, cut
off his head, and thus put -the finishing stroke to his
martyrdom. This happened on April 19, a, d. 1012,
on the very spot where the church of Greenwich,
which is dedicated to him, now stands. After his
death, his body was thrown into the Thames, but
being found the next day, it was buried in the cathe-
dral of St. Paul's by the bishops of London and Lin-
coln : from whence it was, in the year 1023, removed
to Canterbury by iEthelnoth, the archbishop of that
province. ,

SECTION II.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES IN FRANCE.

Before this time the church of Christ was tainted
with many of the errors of popery* and superstition
began to predominate ; but a few, who perceived the
pernicious tendency of such errors, determined to
show the light of the gospel in its real purity, and to
disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised
about it, in order to delude the people. The princi-
pal of these worthies was Berengarius, who, about
the year 1000, boldly preached gospel truths accord-
ing to their primitive purity. Many, from convic-
tion, went over to his doctrine, and were, on that
account, called Berengarians. Berengarius was suc-
ceeded by Peter Bruis, who preached at Toulouse,
under the protection of an earl, named Hildephonsus :

L30 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

and the whole tenets of the reformers, with the rea-
sons of their separation from the church of Rome,
were published in a book written by Bruis, under the
title of Anti-Christ. .

In the year 1140, the number of the reformed was
very great, and the probability of their increasing
alarmed the pope, who wrote to several princes to
banish them from their dominions, and employed
many learned men to write against them.

In 1147, Henry of Toulouse being deemed their
most eminent preacher, they were called Henricians ;
and as they would not admit of any proofs relative
to religion but what could be deduced from the scrip-
tures themselves, the popish party gave them the
name of Apostolics-. Peter Waldo, or Valdo, a native
of Lyons, at this time became a strenuous op-
poser of popery : and from him the reformed received
the appellation of Waldoys, or Waldenses. Waldo
was a man eminent for his learning and benevolence ;
and his doctrines were adopted by multitudes. The
bishop of Lyons, taking umbrage at the freedom with
which he treated the^pope and the Romish clergy,
sent to admonish him to refrain in future from such
discourses ; but Waldo answered, " That he could not
be silent in a cause of such importance as the salva-
tion of men's souls ; wherein he must obey God rather
than man."

Accusations of Peter Waldo against Pojjery,

His principal accusations against the Roman Cath-
olics were, that they affirm the church of Rome to
be the only infallible church of Christ upon earth ; and
that the pope is its head, and the vicar of Christ;
that they hold the absurd doctrine of transubstantia-
tion, insisting that the bread and wine given in the
sacrament is the very identical body and blood of
Christ which was nailed to the cross ; that-they be-
lieve there is a place called purgatory, where the
souls of persons, after this life, are purged from the

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES. 131

sins of mortality, and that the pains and penalties
here inflicted may be abated according to the masses
said by and the money paid to the priests ; that they
teach, the communion of one kind, or the receiving
the wafer only, is sufficient for the lay people, though
the clergy must be indulged with both bread and
wine ; that they pray to the Virgin Mary and saints,
though their prayers ought to be immediately to God ;
that they pray for souls departed, though God decides
their fate immediately on the deeease of the person ;
that they will not perform the service of the church
in a language understood by the people in general ;
that they place their devotion in the number of
prayers, and not in the intent of the heart ; that they
forbid marriage to the clergy, though God allowed it;
and that they used many things in baptism, though
Christ used only water. When Pope Alexander the
Third was informed of these transactions, he ex-
communicated Waldo and his adherents, and com-
manded the bishop of Lyons to exterminate them :
thus began the papal persecutions against the Wal-
denses.

Tenets of the Waldenses.

1. That holy oil is not to be mingled in baptism.

2. That prayers used over things inanimate are
superstitious. A

3. Flesh may be eaten in Lent ; the clergy may
marry; and auricular confession is unnecessary.

4. Confirmation is no sacrament ; we are not bound
to pay obedience to the pope ; ministers should live
upon tithes ; no dignity sets one clergyman above
another, for their superiority can only be drawn from
real worth.

5. Images in churches are absurd ; image-worship
is idolatry ; the pope's indulgences ridiculous ; and
the miracles pretended to be done by the church of
Rome are false.

132 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

6. Fornication and public stews ought not to be
allowed ; purgatory is a fiction ; and deceased per-
sons, called saints, ought not to be prayed to.

7. Extreme unction is not a sacrament; and mas-
ses, indulgences, and prayers, are of no service to
the dead.

8. The Lord's prayer ought to be the rule of all
other prayers.

Waldo remained three years undiscovered in Lyons,
though the utmost diligence was used to apprehend
him ; but at length he found an opportunity of escap-
ing from the place of his concealment to the mount-
ains of Dauphin y. He soon after found means to
propagate his doctrines in Dan phi ny and Picardy,
which so exasperated Philip, king of France, that he
put the latter province, which contained most of the
sectaries, under military execution ; destroying above
300 gentlemen's seats, erasing some walled towns,
burning many of the reformed, and driving others
into Flanders and Germany.

Notwithstanding these persecutions, the reformed
religion seemed to flourish ; and the Waldenses, in
various parts, became more numerous than ever. At
length the pope accused them of heresy, and the
monks of immorality. These slanders they, however,
refuted ; but the pope, incensed at their increase, used
all means for their extirpation ; such as excommu-
nications, anathemas, canons, constitutions, decrees,
<fcc., by which they were rendered incapable of hold-
ing places of trust, honour, or profit ; their lands were
seized, their goods confiscated, and they were not
permitted to be buried in consecrated ground. Some
of the Waldenses having taken refuge in Spain, Al-
dephonsus, king of Aragon, at the instigation of the
pope, published an edict, strictly ordering all Roman
Catholics to persecute them wherever they could be
found; and decreeing that all who gave them the
least assistance should be deemed traitors.

The year after this edict Aldephonsus was severely

PERSECUTIONS OP THE WALDENSES. 133

punished by the hand of Providence ; for his son
was defeated in a great battle, and 50,000 of his men
slain, by which a considerable portion of his kingdom
fell into the hands of the Moors.

The reformed ministers continued to preach boldly
against the Romish church; and Peter Waldo, in
particular, wherever he went, asserted, that the pope
was antichrist, that mass was an abomination,
that the host was an idol, and that purgatory was a
fable.

Origin of the Inquisition.

These proceedings of Waldo, and his reformed
companions, occasioned the origin of inquisitors ; for
pope Innocent III. authorized certain monks inquisi-
tors, to find and deliver over the reformed to the sec-
ular power. The monks, upon the least surmise or
information, gave up the reformed to the magistrate,
who delivered them to the executioner ; for the pro-
cess was short, as accusation supplied the place of
evidence, and a fair trial was never granted to the
accused.

Cruelties of the Pope, and artifices of Dominic,

When the pope found that these cruel means had
not the desired effect, he determined to try others of
a milder nature ; he therefore sent several learned
monks to preach amongst the Waldenses, and induce
them to change their opinions. Among these monks
was one Dominic, who appeared extremely zealous
in the cause of popery. He instituted an order, which,
from him, was called the order of Dominican friars ;
and the members of -this order have ever since been
the principal inquisitors in every country into which
that horrible tribunal has been introduced. Their
power was unlimited; they proceeded' against whom
they pleased, without any consideration of age, sex,
or rank. However infamous the accusers, the accu-
sation was deemed valid ; and even anonymous in-

12

134 BOOK OP MARTYRM.

formations were thought sufficient evidence. The
dearest friends or kindred could not, without danger,
serve any one who was imprisoned on account of re-
ligion ; to convey to those who were confined a little
straw, or give them a cup of water, was called favour-
ing the heretics ; no lawyer dared to plead even for
his own brother, or notary register any thing in favour
of the reformed. The malice of the papists, indeed,
went beyond the grave, and the bones of many Wal-
denses, who had been long dead, were dug up and
burnt. If a man on his death-bed were accused of
being a follower of Waldo, his estates were confis-
cated, and the heir defrauded of his inheritance ; and
some were even obliged to make pilgrimages to the
Holy Land, while the Dominicans took possession 6f
their houses and property, which they refused to sur-
render to the owners upon their return.

Prisons filled loith Christians.

A knight, named Enraudus, being accused of em
bracing the opinions of Waldo, was burnt at Paris
a. d. 1201. About 1228. such numbers of the re
formed were apprehended, that the archbishops of
Aix, Aries, and Narbonne, took compassion on them
and thus expressed themselves to the inquisitors :—
"We hear that you have apprehended such a numbe
ofWaldenses, that it is not only impossible to defrai
the charge of their food and confinement, but to pro
vide lime and stone to build prisons for them,"

Avarice and injustice of Boralli.

In 1380, a monk inquisitor, named Francis Boralli,
had a commission granted him by pope Clement VII.
to search for and punish the Waldenses in Aix, Am-
brune, Geneva, Savoy, Orange, Aries, Vienne, Avig-
non, &c. He went to Ambrune, and summoned all
the inhabitants to appear before him ; when those
who were found to be of the reformed religion were
delivered over to the secular power s and burnt ; and

PERSECUTIONS OP THE WALDENSES. 135

those who did not appear were excommunicated for
contumacy j and had their effects confiscated. In the
distribution of the effects, the clergy had two thirds
of the property of all who were condemned, and the
secular power one third. All the reformed inhabit-
ants of the other places named in the commission of
this ecclesiastic were equal sufferers.

Persecutions in Dauphiny.
In 1400, the Waldenses who resided in the valley
of Pragela were, at the instigation of some priests,
suddenly attacked by a body of troops, who plunder-
ed their houses, murdered many, and drove others
into the Alps, where great numbers were frozen to
death, it being in the depth of winter. In 1460 a
persecution was carried on in Dauphiny against the
Waldenses, by the archbishop of Ambrune, who em-
ployed a monk, named John Vayleti, who proceeded
with such violence, that not only the Waldenses, but
even many papists were sufferers ; for if any of them
expressed compassion or pity for the inoffensive peo-
ple, they were accused of favouring the Waldenses,
and punished. At length Yayleti's proceedings be-
came so intolerable, that a great number of the pa-
pists themselves addressed a petition against him to •
Louis XL, king of France, who granted the request
of the petitioners, and sent an order to the governor
of Dauphiny to stop the persecution. Yayleti, how-
ever, by order of the archbishop, still continued it ;
for, taking advantage of the last clause of the edict,
he pretended that he did nothing contrary to the
king's precept, who had ordered punishment to such
as affirmed any thing against the holy catholic faith.
This persecution at length concluded with the death
of the archbishop, which happened in 1487.

Attempts of the Pope to exterminate the Waldenses.

Pope Innocent YIIL, in 1488, determined to per-
secute the Waldenses. To this end he sent Albert

136 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

de Capitaneis, archdeacon of Cremona, to France ;
who, on arriving* in Danphiny, craved the assistance
of the king's lieutenant to exterminate the Waldenses
from the valley of Loyse ; the lieutenant readily
granted his assistance, and marched a body of troops
to the place ; but when they arrived at the valley,
they found that it had been deserted by the inhabit-
ants, who had retired to the mountains, and hid
themselves in caverns, &c. The archdeacon and
lieutenant immediately followed them with the troops,
and apprehending many, they cast them headlong
from the precipices, by which they were dashed to
pieces. Several, however, retired to the innermost
parts of the caverns, and, knowing the intricacies,
were able to conceal themselves. The archdeacon
and lieutenant, not being able to come at them, or-
dered the mouths of the caves to be filled with fag-
ots, which being lighted, those within were suffoca-
ted. On searching the caves, 400 infants were found
smothered, either in their cradles or in their mothers'
arms ; and, upon the whole, about 3000 men, wo-
men, and children were destroyed in this persecu-
tion.

After this tragical work, the lieutenant and arch-
deacon proceeded with the troops to Pragela and
Frassanier, in order to persecute the Waldenses in
those parts. But these having heard of the fate of
their brethren in the valley of Loyse, thought proper
to arm themselves ; and by fortifying the different
passes, and bravely disputing the passages through
them, they so harassed the troops that the lieu-
tenant was compelled to retire without effecting his
purpose.

The king of France favours the Waldenses.

In 1494, Anthony Fabri and Christopher de Sa-
lence, having a commission to persecute the Walden-
ses of Danphiny, put some to death, sequestered the
estates of others, and confiscated the goods of many ;

PERSECUTIONS OP THE WALDENSES. 137

but Louis XII. coming to the crown in 1498, the
Waldenses petitioned him for a restitution of their
property. The king determined to have the affair
impartially canvassed, and sent a commissioner of his
own, together with a commissary from the pope, to
make proper inquiries. The witnesses against the
Waldenses having been examinecl, the innocence of
these poor people evidently appeared, and the king's
commissioner declared " that he only desired to be as
good a Christian as the worst of them." When this
favourable report was made to the king, he immedi-
ately gave orders that the Waldenses should have
their property restored to them. The archbishop of
Ambrune having the greatest quantity of these poor
people's goods, it was generally imagined that he
would set a laudable example to others, by being the
first to restore them. The archbishop, however, de-
clared that he would not restore any of the property,
for it was incorporated with and become part of his
archbishopric. He, however, with an affectation of
candour, offered to relinquish several vineyards, of
which he had dispossessed the Waldenses, provided
the lords of Dauphiny would restore all they had ta-
ken from these poor people ; but this the lords abso-
lutely refused, being as desirous of keeping their plun-
der as the archbishop himself.

The Waldenses, finding that they were not likely
to recover any of their property, again appealed to
the king ; and the monarch, having attended to their
complaints, wrote to the archbishop ; but that artful
and avaricious prelate replied, " that at the com-
mencement of the persecution the Waldenses had
been excommunicated by the pope, in consequence
of which their goods were distrained ; therefore, till
the sentence of excommunication was taken off,
which had occasioned them to be seized, they could
noUbc restored with propriety." This plea was al-
lowed to be reasonable ; and application was inef-
fectually made to the pope to remove the sentence

1*2*

138 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

of excommunication ; for the archbishop, supposing
this would be the case, had used all his interest at
Rome to prevent the application from succeeding.

Progress of the Waldenses.

At length this sect, having spread from Dauphiny
into several other provinces, became very numerous
ill Provence. At their first arrival, Provence was
almost a desert ; but, by their great industry, it soon
abounded with corn, wine, oil, fruit, &c. The pope,
by being often near them at his seat at Avignon,
heard occasionally many things concerning their dif-
fering from the church of Home, .which greatly ex-
asperated him, and he determined to persecute them.
Proceeding to some extremities, under the sanction
of his ecclesiastical authority only, without consult-
ing the king of France, the latter became alarmed,
and sent his master of requests and his confessor to
examine into the aifair. On their return they re-
ported that the Waldonses were not such dangerous
or bad people as they had been represented ; that
they lived with perfect honesty, were friendly to all,
caused their children to be baptized, had them taught
the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten commandments ;
expounded the Scriptures with purity, kept the Lord's
day sacred, feared God, honoured the king, and wish-
ed well to the state. " Then," said the king, " they
are much better Christians than myself or my Cath-
olic subjects, and therefore they shall not be persecu-
ted." He was as good as his word, and sent orders
to stop the persecution.

SECTION III.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES.

The Albigenses were people of the reformed reli-
gion, who inhabited the country of Albi. They
were condemned on account of religion, in the eovui-

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 139

cil of Lateran, by order of Pope Alexander III., but
they increased so prodigiously, that man)' - cities were
inhabited by persons only of their persuasion, and
several eminent noblemen embraced their doctrines.
Among the latter were Raymond, earl of Toulouse,
Raymond, earl of Foix, the earl of Bezieres, &c.
The pope, at length, pretended that he wished to
draw them to the Romish faith by sound argument
and clear reasoning, and for this end ordered a gen-
eral disputation ; in which, however, the popish doc-
tors were entirely overcome by the arguments of
Arnold, a reformed clergyman, whose reasonings
were so strong that they were compelled to confess
their force.

Persecution of the Earl of Toulouse.

A friar, named Peter, having been murdered in
the dominions of the earl of Toulouse, the pope made
the murder a pretence to persecute that nobleman
and his subjects. He sent persons throughout all
Europe, in order to raise forces to act coercively
against the Albigenses, and promised Paradise to all
who would assist in this war, (which he termed holy,)
and bear arms for forty days. The same indulgen-
ces were held out to all who entered for this purpose,
as to such as engaged in crusades to the Holy Land.
The pope likewise sent orders to all archbishops,
bishops, &c. to excommunicate the earl of Toulouse
every Sabbath and festival ; at the same time absolv-
ing all his subjects from their oaths of allegiance to
him, and commanding them to pursue his person,
possess his lands, destroy his property, and murder
such of his subjects as continued faithful to him.
The earl of Toulouse, hearing of these mighty pre-
parations against him, wrote to the pope in a very can-
did manner, desiring not to be condemned unheard,
and assuring him that he had not the least hand in
Peter's death ; for that friar was killed by a gentle-
man, who, immediately after the murder, fled out of

140 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

his territories. Bat the pope, being determined on
his destruction, was resolved not to hear his defence ;
and a formidable army, with several noblemen and
prelates at the head of it, began its march against the
Albigenses. The earl had only the alternative to
oppose force by force, or submit ; and as he de-
spaired of success in attempting the former, he de-
termined on the latter. The pope's legate being at
Valence, the earl repaired thither, and said u he was
surprised that such a number of armed men should
be sent against him, before the least proof of his guilt
had been deduced. He therefore came voluntarily
to surrender himself, armed only with the testimony
of a good conscience, and hoped that the troops
would be prevented from plundering his innocent
subjects, as he thought himself a sufficient pledge for
any vengeance they chose*to take on account of the
death of a friar." The legate replied, that he was very
glad the earl had voluntarily surrendered ; but, with
respect to the proposal, he could not pretend to coun-
termand the orders to the troops, unless he would
consent to deliver up seven of his best fortified cas-
tles as securities for his future behaviour. At this
demand the earl perceived his error in submitting,
but it was too late : he knew himself to be a prison-
er, and therefore sent an order for the delivery of the
castles. The pope's legate had no sooner garrisoned
these places, than he ordered the respective govern-
ors to appear before him. When they came, he said,
" that the earl of Toulouse having delivered up his
castles to jhe pope, they must consider that they
were now "the pope's subjects, and not the earl's ; and
that they must therefore act conformably to their
new allegiance." The governors were greatly as-
tonished to see their lord thus in chains, and them-
selves compelled to act in a manner so contrary to
their inclinations and consciences. But the subse-
quent treatment of the earl afflicted them still more ;
for he was stripped nearly naked, led nine times

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 141

round the grave of friar Peter, and severely scourged
before all the people. Not content with this, the
legate obliged him to swear that he would be obedient i
to the pope during the remainder of his life, conform
to the church of Rome, and make irreconcilable war
against the Albigenses ; and even ordered him, by
the oaths he had newly taken, to join the troops, and
inspect the siege of Bezieres. Bat thinking this too
hard an injunction, he took an opportunity privately
to quit the army, and determined to go to the pope
and relate the ill usage he had received.

Siege of Bezieres.

The army, however, proceeded to besiege Bezi-
eres ; and the earl of Bezieres, who was governor of
that city, thinking it impossible to defend the place,
came out, and presenting himself before the legate,
implored mercy for the inhabitants : intimating, that
there were as many Roman Catholics as Albigenses
in that city. The legate replied, that all excuses
were useless ; the place must be delivered up at dis-
cretion, or the most dreadful consequences would
ensue.

The earl of Bezieres, returning into the city, told
the inhabitants he could obtain no mercy, unless the
Albigenses would abjure their religion, and conform
to the worship of the church of Rome. The Roman
Catholics pressed the Albigenses to comply with his
request ; but the Albigenses nobly answered, that
they would not forsake their religion for the base
price of their frail life ; that God was able, if he
pleased, to defend them ; but if he would be glorified
by the confession of their faith, it would be a great
honour to them to die for his sake. They added, that
they had rather displease the pope, who could but
kill their bodies, than God, who could cast both body
and soul into hell. On this the popish party, finding
their importunities ineffectual sent their bishop to
the legate, beseeching him not to include them in the

142 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

chastisement of the Albigenses; and representing,
that the best means to win the latter over to the Ro-
man Catholic persuasion, was by gentleness, and not
by rigour. The legate, upon hearing this, flew into
a violent passion with the bishop, and declared
that, " If all the city did not acknowledge their fault,
they should taste of one curse, without distinction of
religion, sex, or age."

Horrid cruelties on taking the town.

The inhabitants refusing to yield upon such terms,
a general assault was made, and the place taken by
storm, when every cruelty that barbarous supersti-
tion could devise was practised ; nothing was to be
heard but the groans of men, who lay weltering in
their blood, the lamentations of mothers, who, after
being violated by the soldiery, had their children
taken from them, and dashed to pieces before their
faces. The city being fired in various parts, new
scenes of confusion arose ; in several places the
streets were streaming with blood. Those who hid
themselves in their dwellings, had only the dreadful^
alternative to remain and perish in the flames, or rush
out and fall by the swords of the soldiers. The
bloody legate, during these infernal proceedings, en-
joyed the carnage, and even cried out to the troops,
" Kill them, kill them all ; kill man, woman, and
child ; kill Roman Catholics as well as Albigenses,
for when they are dead the Lord knows how to pick
out his own." Thus the beautiful city of Bezieres
was reduced to a heap of ruins ; and 60,000 persons
were murdered.

Courage of the earl of Bezieres.

The earl of Bezieres and a few others made their
escape, and went to Carcasson, which they endea-
voured to put in the best posture of defence. The
legate, not willing to lose an opportunity of spilling
blood during the "forty days which the troops were to

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 143

serve, led them immediately against Carcasson. As
soon as the place was invested, a furious assault was
given, but the besiegers were repulsed with great
slaughter ; and upon this occasion the earl of Be-
zieres gave the most distinguished proofs of his cour-
age, saying, to encourage the besieged, " We had
better 'die fighting than fall into the hands of such
bigoted and bloody enemies."

\T\vo miles from the city of Carcasson there was a
small town of the same name, which the Albigenses
had likewise fortified. The legate being enraged at
the repulse he had received from the city of Carcas-
son, determined to wreak his vengeance upon the
town : the next morning he made a general assault ;
and though the place was bravely defended, he took
it by storm, put all within it to the sword, and then
burnt the town.

During these transactions the king of Arragon ar-
rived at the camp, and after paying his obeisance to
the legate, told him he understood the earl of Be-
zieres, his kinsman, was in the city of Carcasson, and
that, if he would grant him permission, he would go
thither and endeavour to make him sensible of the
duty he owed to the pope and church : the legate ac-
quiescing, the king repaired to' the earl, and asked him
from what motives he shut himself up in that city
against so great an army. The earl answered, it
was to defend his life, goods, and subjects ; that he
knew the pope, under the pretence of religion, resolv-
ed to destroy his uncle, the earl of Toulouse, and
himself; that he saw the cruelty which they had
used at Bezieres, even against the priests ; and at
the town of Carcasson ; and that they must look for
no mercy from the legate or his army ; he, therefore,
rather chose to die, defending himself and his sub-
jects, than fall into the hands of so inexorable an
enemy as the legate ; that though he had in his city
some that were of another religion, yet they were
such as had not wronged any, were come to his sue-

144 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

cour in his greatest extremity, and for their good ser-
vice he was resolved not to abandon them ; that his
trust was in God, the defender of the oppressed ; and
that he would assist them against those ill-advised
men who forsook their own homes, to burn, ravage,
and murder, without reason, judgment, or mercy.

Infamous treachery of the legate.

The king reported to the legate what the earl had
said : the legate, after considering for some time, re-
plied, ''For your sake, Sir, I will receive the earl of
Bezieres to mercy, and with him twelve others shall
be safe, and be permitted to retire with their property :
but as for the rest, I am determined to have them at
my discretion." This answer displeased the king ;
and when the earl heard it, he absolutely refused to
comply with such terms. The legate then com-
manded another assault, but his troops were again
repulsed with great slaughter, and the dead bodies
occasioned a stench that was exceedingly offensive
both to the besieged and the besiegers. The legate,
vexed and alarmed at this second disappointment,
determined to act by stratagem. Fie therefore sent
a person, well skilled in dissimulation and artifice, to
the earl of Bezieres, with a seeming friendly message.
The design was, by any means, to induce the earl to
leave the city, in order to have an interview with the
legate ; and to this end the messenger was to pro-
mise, or swear, whatever he thought proper ; for.
said the legate, " swear to what falsehoods you will
in such a cause, I will give you absolution."

This infamous plot succeeded : for the earl, believ-
ing the promises made him of personal security, and
crediting the solemn oaths that the perjured agent
swore upon the occasion, left the city and went with
him. The legate no sooner saw him, than he told
him he was a prisoner, and must remain so till Car-
casson was surrendered, and the inhabitants taught
their duty to the pope. The earl, on hearing this,

PERSECUTIONS OP THE ALBIGENSES. 145

cried -*ut that he was betrayed, and exclaimed against
the treachery of the legate, and the perjury of the
person he had employed. But he was ordered into
close confinement, and the place summoned to sur-
render immediately.

The people, on hearing the captivity of the earl,
were thrown into the utmost consternation, when one
of the citizens informed the rest, that he had been
formerly told by some old men, that there was a very
capacious subterraneous passage, which led from
thence to the castle of Camaret, at three Jeagues dis-
tance. " If," continued he, " we can find this passage,
we may all escape before the legate can be apprized
of our flight." This information was joyfully re-
ceived : all were employed to search for the passage ;
and'at length it was discovered. Early in the eve-
ning the inhabitants began their flight, taking with
them their wives, children, and a few days' provision,
and such property as was most valuable and portable.
They reached the castle by the morning, and escaped
to Arragon, Catalonia, and such other places as they
thought would secure them from the power of the
sanguinary legate.

Next morning the troops were astonished, not
hearing any noise, nor seeing any man stir in the
city ; yet they approached the walls with much fear,
lest it should be but a stratagem to endanger them ;
but finding no opposition, they mounted the walls,
crying out that the Albigenses were fled ; and thus
was the city, with all the spoils, taken, and the earl
of Bezieres committed to prison in one of the strongest
towers of the castle, where he soon after died.

The legate now called all the prelates and great
lords of his army together, telling them, that though
it was requisite there should be always a legate in
the army, yet it was likewise necessary that there
should be always a secular general, wise and valiant,
to command in all their affairs, &c. This charge
was first offered to the duke of Burgogne, then to
13

146 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

the earl of Ennevers, and thirdly, to the earl of St
Paul ; but they all refused it. At length it was of-
fered to Simon, earl of Montfort, who, after some
excuses, accepted it. Four thousand men were left
to garrison Carcasson, and the deceased earl of Be-
zieres was succeeded in title and dignity by earl
Simon, a bigoted Roman Catholic, who threatened
vengeance on the Albigenses, unless they conformed
to the worship of the church of Rome. But the king
of Arragon, who was in his heart of the reformed
persuasion, secretly encouraged the Albigenses, and
gave them hopes that if they acted with prudence,
they might cast off the yoke of the tyrannical earl
Simon. They took his advice, and while Simon was
gone to Montpellier, they surprised some of his for-
tresses, and were successful in several expeditions
against his officers.

Conduct of Simon.

These proceedings so enraged Simon, that, return-
ing from Montpellier, he collected together some
forces, marched against the Albigenses, and ordered
every prisoner he took to be immediately burnt ; but
not succeeding in some of his enterprises, he grew
disheartened, and wrote to every Roman Catholic
power in Europe to send him assistance, otherwise
he should not be able to hold out against the Albi-
genses : He soon received some succours, with which
he attacked the castle of Beron, and making himself
master of it, ordered the eyes to be put out and the
noses to be cut off of all the garrison, one person alone
excepted, who was deprived of one eye only, that he
might conduct the rest to Cabaret. He then under-
took the siege of Menerbe, which, on account of the
want of water, was obliged to yield to him. The
lord of Termes, the governor, was put in prison,
where he died ; his wife, sister, daughter, and 180
others, were committed to the flames. Many other
castles surrendered to the forces of this monster, and

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGEN3ES. 147

the inhabitants were butchered in a manner equally
barbarous.

Earl of Toulouse excommunicated.

In the mean time, the earl of Toulouse, by means
of letters of recommendation from the king of France,
was reconciled to the pope : at least the pope pre-
tended to give him remission for the death of friar
Peter, and to absolve him from all other crimes he
had committed. But the legate, by the connivance
of the pope, did all he could to ruin the earl. Some
altercations having passed between them, the legate
excommunicated the earl ; and the bishop of Tou-
louse, upon this encouragement, sent this imprudent
message to the earl : " That as he was an excommu-
nicated person, he commanded him to depart the city ;
for an ecclesiastic could not say mass with propri-
ety, while a person of such a description was so
near him."

Being greatly exasperated at the bishop's insolence,
the earl sent him an order immediately to depart
from the place on pain of death. This order was all
the prelate wanted, as it would give him some reason
to complain of his lord. The bishop, with the can-
ons of the cathedral church, marched out of the
city in solemn procession, bare-footed and bare-
headed, taking with them the cross, banner, host, <fcc.,
and proceeded in that manner to the legate's army,
where they were received with great respect as per-
secuted saints ; and the legate thought this a suffi-
cient excuse to proceed against the earl of Toulouse
for having, as he termed it, relapsed from the truth.
He attempted to get the earl into his power by strata-
gem, but the latter being apprized of his design, es-
caped. The legate, enraged at this disappointment,
laid siege to the castle of Montferrand, which be-
longed to the earl, and was governed by Baldwin, his
brother. On the first summons, Baldwin not only
surrendered, but abjured his religion, and turned

148 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Papist. This event, which severely afflicted the earl,
was followed by another that gave him still greater
mortification; for his old friend, the king of Arragon,
forsook his interest, and agreed to give his daughter
in marriage to earl Simon's eldest son ; the legate's
troops were then joined by the forces of Arragon and
those belonging to earl Simon, on which they jointly
laid siege to Toulouse.

Successes of the Albigenses.

Nevertheless, the earl determined to interrupt the
besiegers by frequent sallies. In the first attempt he
met with a severe repulse ; but in the second he took
Simon's son prisoner, and in the third he unhorsed
Simon himself. After several furious assaults given
by the popish army, and some successful sallies of
the Albigenses, the earl of Toulouse compelled his
enemies to raise the siege. In their retreat they did
much mischief in the counties through which they
passed, and put many defenceless Albigenses to death.

The earl of Toulouse now did all he could to re-
cover the friendship of the king of Arragon ; and as
the marriage ceremony between that monarch's
daughter and Simon's son had not been performed,
he entreated him to break off that match, and pro-
posed another more proper, viz., that his own eldest
son and heir should wed the princess of Arragon,
and that by this match their friendship should be
again united and more firmly cemented. His ma-
jesty was easily persuaded not only to agree to this
proposal, but to form a league with the principal
Albigenses, and to put himself as captain -general
at the head of their united forces, consisting of his
own people, and of the troops of the earls of Tou-
louse, Foix, and Comminges. The Papists were
greatly alarmed at these proceedings ; Simon sent
to all parts of Europe, to engage the assistance of
the Roman Catholic powers, and the pope's legate
began hostilities by entering the di minions of the

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 149

earl of Foix, and committing the most cruel depre-
dations.

As soon as the army of the Albigenses was ready,
the king of Arragon began his operations by laying
siege to Murat, a strongly fortified town near Tou-
louse, belonging to the Roman Catholics. Earl Si-
mon, by forced marches, came to the assistance of
the place, at the time when the king of Arragon, who
kept very little discipline in his army, was^ feasting
and revelling. Simon suddenly attacked the Albi-
genses, while they were in confusion, when the
united forces of the reformed were defeated, and the
king of Arragon was killed. The loss of this battle
was imputed to negligence of the king, who would
have as much entertainment in a camp, as if he had
been securely at peace in his capital. The victory
made the popish commanders declare they would en-
tirely extirpate the whole race of the Albigenses ;
and Simon sent an insolent message to the earls of
Toulouse, Foix, and Comminges, to deliver to him
all the castles and fortresses of which they were pos-
sessed. Those noblemen, instead of answering the
demand, retired to their respective territories, to put
them into the best posture of resistance.

Surrender of Toulouse.

Soon after, Simon marched towards the city of
Toulouse, when the earl of Toulouse, who had re-
tired to Montalban, sent word to the citizens to make
the best terms they could with the Roman Catholics,
as he was confident they could not hold out a siege ;
but he recommended them to preserve their hearts
for him, though they surrendered their persons to
another. The citizens of Toulouse, upon, receiving
this intimation, sent deputies to Simon, with offers of
immediate surrender, provided the city itself, and
the persons and properties of its inhabitants, should
be protected from devastation. These conditions
were agreed to, and Simon, in order to ingratiate

13*

150 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

himself at court, wrote a letter to prince Lewis, the
son of Philip, king of Prance, informing him that
the city of Toulouse had offered to surrender to him ;
but bein^ willing that the prince should have the
honour of receiving the keys, and the homage of the
people, he begged that he would repair to the camp
for that purpose. The prince, pleased with the in-
vitation, went directly to the army, and had the
city of Toulouse surrendered to him in form. The
pope's legate, however, was greatly displeased at the
mild conditions granted to the people, and insisted,
that though the prince might take upon him the
sovereignty of the place, and receive the homage of
the people, yet the plunder belonged to the holy pil-
grims, (for so the popish soldiers employed in those
expeditions were called); and that the place, as a re-
ceptacle of heretics, ought to be dismantled. The
prince and earl Simon in vain remonstrated against
proceedings so contrary to the conditions granted at
the surrender : the legate was peremptory, when earl
Simon and the prince, unwilling to come to an open
rupture with him, gave up the point. The legate
immediately set his holy pilgrims to work, when they
presently dismantled the city, and plundered the in-
habitants of all their property, in defiance of the
security granted to them bv the articles of the sur-
render.

Dispute between the Legate and Prince.

Now the legate, finding that among the Albigenses
were many lucrative places which would fall to the
disposal of the prince, determined, by an artifice, to
deprive -him of any advantage which might accrue
from them ; to this end, he gave absolution to the
Albigenses, which, though they had not in the least
changed their religious opinions, he called reconcil-
ing them to the church. The prince, not apprized
of this stratagem, was about to give his officers pos-
session of some places of profit ; when; to his great

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 151

astonishment, the legate informed him, that he had
no power to dispose of those places. The prince de-
manded an explanation of his meaning. " My mean-
ing," replied the legate, "is, that the people have re-
ceived absolution, and being reconciled to, are con-
sequently under the protection of, the church ; there-
fore, all places among, or connected with, them, arc
in the disposal of the church only,"

The prince, offended at this mode of reasoning;
and highly displeased at the meanness of the subter-
fuge, nevertheless thought proper to dissemble his
resentment. But being determined to quit the legate,
he put the troops that were under his command in
motion, and marched to attack some other fortresses ;
but he found, wherever he came, that the legate
had played the same trick, and plainly perceived,
if he continued his military operations, that when
unsuccessful, he should bear all the blame, and
when successful, the legate would steal all the profit ;
he therefore left the army in disgust, and returned tc
court.

Defeat of Earl Simon.

On this, earl Simon, with his own forces, those the
prince had just quitted, and some other auxiliaries,
undertook the siege of Foix, being chiefly provoked
to it by the death of his brother, who was slain by
the earl of Foix. He lay before the castle of Foix for
ten days, during which time he frequently assaulted
it, but was as often repulsed. Hearing that an army
of Arragonese were in full march towards him, in
order to revenge the death of their king, he raised
the siege, and went to meet them. The earl of Foix
immediately sallied out and harassed his rear, and
the Arragonese, attacking his front, gave him a total
defeat, which compelled him to shut himself up in
Carcasson,

Soon afterwards the pope's legate called a counci ,
at Montpellier, for renewing the military operations

152 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

against the Albigenses, and for doing proper honour
to earl Simon, who was present ; for the Arragonese,
not taking advantage of their victory, had neglected
to block up Carcasson, by which omission Simon had
an opportunity of repairing to Montpellier. On meet-
ing the council, the legate, in the pope's name, paid
many compliments to Simon, and declared that he
should be prince of all the countries that might in
future be taken from the Albigenses : at the same
time, by order of the pontiff, he styled him "the ac-
tive and dexterous soldier of Jesus Christ, and the
invnicible defender of the Catholic faith/ 5 But just
as the earl was about to return thanks for these great
honours and fine encomiums, a messenger brought
word that the people, having heard earl Simon was
in the council, had taken up arms, and were coming
thither to destroy him as a common disturber. This
intelligence threw the whole council into great con-
fusion ; and earl Simon, though a minute before
styled an invincible defender of the faith, jumped out
of the window, and stole away from the city.

Council of Later cm.

The disputes becoming serious, according to the
opinion of the papists, the pope himself soon after
called a council, to be held at Laterally in which
great powers were granted to Roman Catholic inquis-
itors, and many Albigenses were immediately put to
death. This council of Lateran likewise confirmed
to earl Simon all the honours intended him by the
council of Montpellier, and empowered him to raise
another army against the Albigenses. Earl Simon
immediately repaired to court, received his investiture
from the French king, and began to levy forces.
Having now a considerable number of troops, he de-
termined, if possible, to exterminate the Albigenses,
when he received advice that, his countess was besieg-
ed in Narbonne by the earl of Toulouse. He proceed-
ed to the relief of his wife, when the Albigenses met

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 153

him, £ave him battle, and defeated him ; but he found
means to escape and get into the castle of Narbonne.

Recovery of Toulouse by the Albigenses.

After this, Toulouse was recovered by the Albi-
genses ; but the pope espousing earl Simon's cause,
raised forces for him, and enabled him once more to
undertake the siege of that city. The earl assaulted
the place furiously, but being repulsed with great
loss, he seemed sunk in affliction : when the pope's
legate said, to comfort him, " Fear nothing, my lord ;
make another vigorous attack ; let us by any means
recover the city, and destroy the inhabitants ; and
those of our men who are slain in the fight, I will as-
sure you shall immediately pass into paradise." One
of the earl's principal officers, on hearing this, said,
with a sneer, " Monsieur Cardinal, you talk with great
assurance ; but if the earl believes you, he will, as
heretofore, pay dearly for his confidence." Earl Si-
mon, however, took the legate's advice, made another
assault, and was again repulsed. To complete his
misfortune, before the troops could recover from their
confusion, the earl of Foix made his appearance, at
the head of a formidable body of forces, attacked the
already dispirited army of earl Simon, and easily put
them to the route ; when the earl himself narrowly
escaped drowning in the Garronne, into which he
had hastily plunged, in order to avoid being captur-
ed. This miscarriage almost broke his heart ; but the
pope's legate continued to encourage him, and offer-
ed to raise another army, which promise, with some
difficulty, and three years' delay, he at length per-
formed, and that bigoted nobleman was once more
enabled to, take the field. On this occasion he turn-
ed his whole force against Toulouse, which he be-
sieged for the space of nine months, when in one of
the sallies made by the besieged, his horse was wound-
ed. The animal, being in great anguish, ran away
with him, and bore him directly under the ramparts

154 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

of the city, when an archer shot him in the thigh with
an arrow ; and a woman immediately after tli rowing
a large stone from the wall, it struck him upon the
head, and killed him ; thus were the Albigenses, like
the Israelites, delivered by the hand of a woman ;
and thus this atrocious monster, who had so long per-
secuted the people of God, was at length himself slain
by one of those whom he had intended to have slaugh-
tered if he had been successful. The siege was rais-
ed ; but the legate, enraged to be disappointed of his
vengeance on the inhabitants, engaged the long of
France in the cause, who sent his son to besiege it.
The French prince, with some chosen troops, furi-
ously assaulted Toulouse ; but meeting with a se-
vere repulse, he abandoned that city to besiege Miro-
mand. This place he soon took by storm, and put
to the sword all the inhabitants, consisting of 5000
men, women, and children.

The bloodthirsty legate, whose name was Betrand,
being very old, grew weary of following the army ;
but his passion for murder still remained, as appears
by his epistle to the pope, in which he begs to be re-
called on account of age and infirmities ; but entreats
the pontiff to appoint a successor, who might carry
on the war, as he had done, with spirit and perseve-
rance. In consequence, the pope recalled Betrand,
and appointed Conrade, bishop of Portua, to be le-
gate in his room.- The latter determined to follow
the steps of his predecessor, <> and to persecute the
Albigenses with the greatest severity. Guido, earl
of Montfort, the son and heir of earl Simon, under-
took the command of the troops, and immediately
laid siege to Toulouse, before the walls of which he
was killed. His brother Aimer ic succeeded to the
command, but the bravery of the garrison soon obli-
ged him to raise the siege. On this the legate pre-
vailed upon the king of France to undertake the
siege of Toulouse in person, and reduce to the obe-
dience of the church those obstinate heretics, as he

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. 155

called the brave Albigenses. The earl of Toulouse,
hearing of the great preparations made by the king
of France, sent the women, children, cattle, &c. into
secret and secure places in the mountains, ploughed
up the land, that the king's forces should not obtain
any forage, and did all that a skilful general could
perform to distress the enemy. By these wise regu-
lations the French army, soon after entering the earl-
dom of Toulouse, suffered all the extremities of f?
mine, which obliged the troops to feed on the car-
casses of horses, dogs, cats, &c, which unwholesome
food produced the plague. The king died of grief;
but his son, who succeeded him, determined to carry
on the war ; he was, however, defeated in three en-
gagements, by the earl of Toulouse. The king, the
queen-mother, and three archbishops again raised a
formidable army, and had the art to persuade the
earl of Toulouse to come to a conference, when he
was treacherously seized upon, made a prisoner,
forced to appear barefooted and bareheaded before
his enemies, and compelled to subscribe the follow-
ing ignominious conditions : 1. That he should ab-
jure the faith that he had hitherto defended. 2. That
he should be subject to the church of Rome. 3. That
he should give his daughter Joan in marriage to one
of the brothers of the king of France. 4. That he
should maintain in Toulouse six popish professors of
the liberal arts, and two grammarians. 5. That he
should take upon him the cross, and serve five years
against the Saracens in the Holy Land. 6. That he
should level the walls of Toulouse with the ground.
7. That he should destroy the walls and fortifications
of thirty of his other cities and castles, as the legate
should direct. 8. That he should remain prisoner
at Paris till his daughter was delivered to the king's
commissioners. After these cruel conditions a se-
vere persecution took place against the Albigenses,
many of whom suffered for the faith ; and express
orders were issued that the laity should not be per«
mitted to read the sacred 'writings !

156 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

SECTION IV.

PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE, PREVIOUS TO AND DUR-
ING THE CIVIL WARS OF THAT NATION.

In the year 1524, at a town in France called Mel-
den, one John Clark affixed a bill on the church
door, in which he called the pope Antichrist : for
this offence he was repeatedly whipped, and then
branded in the forehead. His mother, who saw the
chastisement, cried with a loud voice, " Blessed be
Christ, and welcome these marks for his sake." He-
went afterwards to Metz, in Lorraine, and demolish-
ed some images, for which he had his right hand and
nose cut off, and his arms and breast torn by pin-
cers : while suffering these cruelties he sang the
115th psalm, which expressly forbids superstition.
On concluding the psalm, he was thrown into the
lire and burnt to ashes.

ihout the same time several persons of the re-
formed persuasion were beaten, racked, scourged,
and burnt to death, in several parts of France ; bul
particularly at Paris, Limosin, and Malda.

A native of Malda was burnt by a slow fire for say-
ing that mass was a plain denial of the death and
passion of Christ. At Limosin John de Cadurco, 3
clergyman of the reformed religion, was apprehend
ed, degraded, and ordered to be burnt. "When un
der examination, a friar undertook to preach a ser-
mon upon the occasion ; when opening the New
Testament he pitched upon his text, in the firs*
epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, chap. iv. verse 1.—
f: Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the lattei
times some shall depart from the faith, giving hee<j
to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." The
friar began to expound this verse in favour of the
Roman Catholic persuasion, and in condemnation of
the reformed religion, when John de Cadurco begged
that before he proceeded in his sermon he would

PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. 157

read the two verses which followed his text : — the .
friar again opened the Testament, but on casting his
eye on the passage, he appeared confounded. Ca-
durco then desired that the book might be handed to
him ; this request being complied with, he read thus :
" Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience
seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and com-
manding to abstain from meats, which God hath cre-
ated to be received with thanksgiving of them which
believe and know the truth." The Roman Catho-
lics, irritated at this exposure, condemned him to the
flames.

At Paris, Alexander Kanus, a clergyman, was
burnt in a slow fire ; and four men were committed
to the names for distributing papers which ridiculed
the saying of mass. One had his tongue bored
through for ridiculing the Romish superstitions. Pe-
ter Gaudet, a Genoese, was burnt on the accusation
of his own uncle, a bigoted Roman Catholic ; and
John Pointer, a surgeon, had his tongue cut out, and
was then burnt.

Martyrdom at Arras, $°c.

At Arras, Fontanis, and Ru tiers, many were mar-
tyred for being of the reformed religion ; at the lat-
ter place, in particular, one Stephen Brune was con-
demned to be burnt for refusing to attend mass.
When the fire was kindled, the flames were driven
from him by a brisk wind, which occasioned the ex-
ecutioner to heap more fagots around him, and pour
oil on them. Still, however, the wind blew the
flames in a contrary direction, when the executioner
was absurdly euraged with Brune, and struck him
on the head ; but Brune very calmly said, " As I am
condemned only to be burnt, why do you strike me
like a dog?" This expression so greatly enraged
the executioner, that he ran him through with a
pike, and then burnt the lifeless body.

U

158 BOOR OF MARTYRS.

Aymond de Lavoy, a minister of Bourdeaux, had
a complaint lodged against him by the Romish cler-
gy of that city. His friends advised him to abscond,
but he refused. He remained nine months in prison.
Being then brought to trial, he was ordered to be
racked ; and when in the extremity of torture, he
comforted himself with this expression : " This body-
must once die. but the soul shall live ; for the king-
dom of God endureth for ever." At length he swoon-
ed ; but on recovering, he prayed for his persecu-
tors. The question was then put to him, whether
he would embrace the Roman Catholic persuasion ;
which positively refusing, he was condemned to be
burnt. At the place of execution he said, " O Lord,
make haste to help me ; tarry not ; despise not the
work of thy hands." And perceiving some who used
to attend his sermons, he addressed them thus : " My
friends, I exhort you to study and learn the gospel ;
for the word of God abide th for ever : — labour to
know the will of God, and fear not them that kill the
body, but have no power over the soul." The exe-
cutioner then strangled him, and burnt his body af-
terwards.

Francis Bribard, secretary to cardinal de Bellay,
for speaking in favour of the reformed, had his tongue
cut out and was burnt, a. d. 1544. James Cobard,
a schoolmaster in the city of St. Michael, was burnt,
a. d. 1545, for saying the mass was useless and ab-
surd ; and about the same time, fourteen men were
burnt at Malda. their wives being compelled to be-
hold their martyrdom.

Peter Chapot brought a number of Bibles in the
French tongue to France, and publicly sold them
there in the year 1 546, for which he was condemned
to be burnt ; as, soon after, were a cripple of Meaux,
a schoolmaster of Fera, named Stephen Polliot, and a
man named John English.

THE INQUISITION. 159

BOOK V.

Historical account of the Inquisition in Spain, Portugal, Italy, &cu
SECTION. I.

ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND CRUELTIES OF THE INQUISI-
TION.

When the reformed religion began to diffuse the
pure light of the gospel throughout Europe, the bi-
goted Roman Catholics, fearing the exposure of the
frauds and abuses of their church, determined to leave
nothing un attempted to crush the Reformation in its
infancy; Pope Innocent III. therefore instituted a
number of inquisitors, or persons who were to make
inquiry after, apprehend, and punish the professors
of the reformed faith. At the head of these inquisi-
tors was one Dominic, who was canonized by the
pope, in order to render his authority the more re-
spectable. He and the other inquisitors visited the
various Roman Catholic countries, and treated the
protestants with the utmost severity : but at length
the pope, not finding them so useful as he had ex-
pected, resolved upon the establishment of fixed and
regular courts of inquisition ; the first office of which
was established in the city of Toulouse, and Dominic
became the first inquisitor.

Courts of inquisition were also erected in several
other countries ; but the Spanish inquisition became
the most powerful, and the most dreadful of any.
Even the kings of Spain themselves, though arbitra-
ry in all other respects, were taught to dread its
power ; and the horrid cruelties exercised by the in-
quisition, compelled multitudes, who differed in opi-
nion from the Catholics, carefully to conceal their
sentiments. The Dominicans and Franciscans were
the most zealous of all the monks : these, therefore,
the pope invested with an exclusive right of presid-
ing over and managing the different courts of inqui-

160 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

sition. The friars of those two orders were always
selected from the very dregs of the people, and there-
fore were not much troubled with scruples of con-
science ; they were obliged, by the rules of their re-
spective orders, to lead very austere lives, which
rendered their manners unsocial, and better qualifi-
ed them for their barbarous employment.

The pope gave the inquisitors the most unlimited
powers, as judges delegated by him, and immediate-
ly representing his person : they were permitted to
excommunicate, or sentence to death, whom they
thought proper, upon the slightest information of
heresy ; were allowed to publish crusades against all
whom they deemed heretics, and enter into leagues
with sovereign princes, to join those crusades with
their forces. About the year 1244, their power was
further increased by the emperor Frederic the Se-
cond, who declared himself the protector and friend
of all inquisitors, and published two cruel edicts, viz. :
that all heretics, who continued obstinate, should be
burnt ; and that all who repented should be impri-
soned for life. This zeal in the emperor for the in-
quisitors, and the Roman Catholic persuasion, arose
from a report which had been propagated through-
out Europe, that he intended to turn Mahometan ;
the emperor, therefore, judiciously determined, by the
height of bigotry and cruelty, to show his attachment
to popery.

The officers of the inquisition are, three inquisi-
tors or judges, a proctor fiscal, two secretaries, a
magistrate, a messenger, a receiver, a jailer, an agent
of confiscated possessions, and several assessors,
counsellors, executioners, physicians, surgeons, door-
keepers, familiars, and visiters, who are all sworn to
profound secrecy. The chief accusation against
those who are subject to this tribunal is heresy, which
comprises all that is spoken or written against any
of the articles of the creed, or the tradition of the
Romish church. The other articles of accusation

THE INQUISITION. 161

are, renouncing the Roman Catholic persuasion, and
believing that persons of any other religion may be
saved, or even admitting that the tenets of any but
papists are in the least reasonable. There are two
other things which incur the most severe punish-
ments, viz. to disapprove of any action done by the
inquisition, or disbelieve any thing said by an inquis-
itor.

Heresy comprises many subdivisions ; and upon
a suspicion of any of these, the party is imme-
diately apprehended. Advancing an offensive pro-
juosition ; failing to impeach others who may advance
such ; contemning church ceremonies ; defacing
idols ; reading books condemned by the inquisition ;
lending such books to others to read ; deviating from
the ordinary practices of the Romish church ; letting
a year pass without going to confession ; eating meat
on fast days ; neglecting mass ; being present at a
sermon preached by a heretic ; not appearing when
summoned by the inquisition ; lodging in the house
of, contracting a friendship with, or making a present
to a heretic ; assisting a heretic to escape from
confinement, or visiting one in confinement, are all
matters of suspicion, and prosecuted accordingly.
All Roman Catholics are commanded, under pain of
excommunication, to give immediate information,
even of their nearest and dearest friends, if they
judge them to be heretics, or . inclining to heresy.
All who give the least assistance to protestants are
called fail tors, or abetters of heresy, and the accu-
sations against these are for comforting such as the
inquisition have begun to prosecute ; assisting or not
informing against such, if they should happen to es-
cape ; concealing, abetting, advising, or furnishing
heretics with money ; visiting, or writing to, or send-
ing them subsistence ; secreting, or burning books
and papers which might serve to convict them. The
inquisition also takes cognizance of such as are
accused of being magicians, witches, blasphemers,

162 BOOK OF MATRYRS.

soothsayers, wizards, common swearers ; and of such
who read, or even possess the Bible in the vulgar
tongues, the Talmud, of the Jews, or the Alcoran of
the Mahometans.

Upon all occasions the inquisitors carry on their
processes with the utmost severity. They seldom
show mercy to a Protestant ; and a Jew who turns
Christian, is far from being secure ; for if he is known
to keep company with another new converted Jew
a suspicion arises that they privately practise to-
gether some Jewish ceremonies ; if he keep company
with a person who was lately a Protestanr, but now
professes Popery, they are accused of plotting to-
gether ; but if he associate with a Roman Catholic,
an accusation is often laid against him for only pre-
tending to be a papist, and the consequence is a con-
fiscation of his effects, and the loss of his life if he
complain.

A defence is of little use to the prisoner ; for a
suspicion only is deemed sufficient cause of condem-
nation, and the greater his wealth the greater his
danger. Most of the inquisitors' cruelties are owing
to their rapacity ; they destroy life to possess the
property ; and under pretence of zeal, plunder indi-
viduals of their rights. A prisoner of the inquisitors
is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or
any of the witnesses against him, but every method
is taken, by threats and tortures, to oblige him to ac-
cuse himself. If the jurisdiction of the inquisition be
not fully alloweS, vengeance is denounced against
such as call it in question ; or if any of its officers
are opposed, those who oppose them are almost cer-
tain to be sufferers for their temerity; the maxim of
the inquisition being to strike terror, and awe those
who are objects of its power, into obedience. High
birth, distinguished rank, or eminent employments,
are no protection from its severities ; and its lowest
officers can make the most exalted noblemen tremble
at their authority.

THE INQUISITION. 163

Such are the circumstances which subject a per-
son to the rage of the inquisition ; and the modes of
beginning the process are, 1. to proceed by imputa-
tion, or prosecute on common report ; 2. by the in-
formation of any indifferent person who chooses to
impeach another ; 3. on the information of spies who
are retained by the inquisition ; and 4. on the confes-
sion of the prisoner himself.

The inquisitors never forget or forgive ; length of
time cannot efface their resentments ; nor can the
humblest concessions, or most liberal presents, obtain
a pardon : they carry the desire of revenge to the
grave, and wish to have both the property and lives of
those who have offended them. Hence, when a per-
son once accused to the inquisition, after escaping,
is retaken, pardon is next to an impossibility. If a
positive accusation be given, the inquisitors direct an
order to the executioner, who takes a certain number
of familiars with him to assist in the execution. Fa-
ther, son, brother, sister, husband, or wife, must quiet-
ly submit ; none dare resist or even speak ; as either
would subject them to the same punishment as the
devoted victim. No respite is allowed, but the pri-
soner is instantaneously hurried away;

This dreadful engine of tyranny may at any time
be introduced into a country where the Catholics
have the upper hand ; and hence, how careful ought
we to be, who are not cursed with such an arbitrary
court, to prevent its introduction ! In treating of
this subject, an elegant author pathetically says,
" How horrid a scene of perfidy and inhumanity ! '
What kind of community must that be, whence grati-
tude, love, and mutual forbearance with regard to
human frailties are banished ! What must that tri-
bunal be, which obliges parents not only to erase from
their minds the remembrance of their own children,
to extinguish all those keen sensations of tenderness
and affection wherewith nature inspires them,^ but
even to extend their inhumanity so far as to force

164 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

them to commence their accusers, and consequently
to become the cause of the cruelties inflicted upon
them ! What ideas ought we to form to ourselves
of a tribunal which obliges children not only to stifle
every soft impulse of gratitude, love, and respect,
due to those who gave them birth, but even forces
them, and that under the most rigorous penalties, to
be spies over their parents, and to discover to a set
of merciless inquisitors the crimes, the errors, and
even the little lapses to which they are exposed by hu-
man frailty ! In a word, a tribunal which will not per-
mit relations, when imprisoned in its horrid dungeons,
to give each other the succours, or perform the duties
which religion enjoins, must be of an infernal nature.
What disorder and confusion must such conduct give
rise to, in a tenderly affectionate family 1 An im-
pression, innocent in itself, and, perhaps, but too true,
shall, from an indiscreet zeal, or panic of fear, give
infinite uneasiness to a family ; shall ruin its peace
entirely, and perhaps cause one or more of its mem-
bers to be the unhappy victims of the most barbar-
ous of all tribunals. What distractions must neces-
sarily break forth in a house where the husband and
wife are at variance, or the children loose and wick-
ed ! Will such children scruple to sacrifice a father,
who endeavours to restrain them by his exhortations,
by reproofs, or paternal corrections ? Will they not
rather, after plundering his house to support their
extravagance and riot, readily deliver up their un-
happy parent to all the horrors of a tribunal founded
on the blackest injustice ? A riotous husband, or
a loose wife, has an easy opportunity, assisted by
means of the persecution in question, to rid them-
selves of one who is a check to their vices, by de-
livering him or her up to the rigours of the inquisi-
tion." ^

When the inquisitors have taken umbrage against
an innocent person, all expedients are used to facili-
tate his condemnation ; false oaths and testimonies

THE INQJJISITION. 165

are employed to prove the accused to be guilty ; and
all laws and institutions are sacrificed to the bigoted
revenge of papacy.

When a person accused is taken, his treatment is
deplorable. The jailers first begin by searching him
for books and papers which might tend to his convic-
tion, and for instruments which might be employed
in self-murder or escape, and on this pretext they
even rob him of his wearing apparel. When he has
been searched and robbed, he is committed to prison.
Innocence, on such an occasion, is a weak reed ; no-
thing being easier than to ruin an innocent person.

The mildest sentence is imprisonment for life ; yet
the inquisitors proceed by degrees, at once subtle,
slow, and cruel. The jailer first of all insinuates
himself into the prisoner's favour, by pretending to
wish him well, and advise him well ; and among
other pretended kind hints, tells him to petition for
an audit. When he is brought before the consistory,
the first demand is, " What is your request T To
this the prisoner very naturally answers, that he
would have a hearing. Hereupon one of the inqui-
sitors replies, "Your hearing is this; confess the
truth, conceal nothing, and rely on our mercy." Now,
if the prisoner make a confession of any trifling affair,
they immediately found an indictment on it; if he is
mute, they shut him up without light, or any food but
a scanty allowance of bread and water, till his obsti-
nacy is overcome ; and if he declare he is innocent,
they torment him till he either die with the pain, or
confess himself guilty.

On the re-exami nations of such as confess, they
continually say, " You have not been sincere, you
tell not all ; you keep many things concealed, and
therefore must be remanded to your dungeon." When
those who have stood mute are called for re-exami-
nation, if they continue silent, such tortures are or-
dered as will either make them speak, or kill them ;
and when those who proclaim their innocence are

16G BOOK OF MARTYRS.

re-examined, a crucifix is held before them, and they
are solemnly exhorted to take an oath of their con-
fession of faith. This brings them to the test ; they
must either swear they are Roman Catholics, or ac- '
knowledge they are not. If they acknowledge they
are not, they are proceeded against as heretics. If
they acknowledge they are Roman Catholics, a string
of accusations is brought against them, to which they
are obliged to answer extempore ; no time being gi-
ven even to arrange their answers. On having ver-
bally answered, pen, ink, and paper are given them,
in order to produce a written answer, which must in
every degree coincide with the verbal answer. If
the verbal and written answers differ, the prisoners
are charged with prevarication ; if one contain more
than the other, they are accused of wishing to conceal
circumstances ; if they both agree, they are charged
with premeditated artifice.

After a person impeached is condemned, he is either
severely whipped, violently tortured, sent to the gal-
leys, or sentenced to death ; and in either case his ef-
fects are confiscated. After judgment, a procession is
formed to the place of execution, which ceremony is
called an Auto da Fe* or Act of Faith.

THE INQUISITION. 167

Auto da Fe at Madrid.

The following is an account of an Auto da Fe at
Madrid, in the year 1682.

The officers of the inquisition, preceded by trum-
pets, kettle-drums, and their banner, marched on the
20th of May, in cavalcade, to the place of the great
square, where they declared by proclamation, that
on the 30th of June the sentence of the prisoners
would be put in execution. There had not been a
spectacle of this kind at Madrid for several years,
for which reason it was expected by the inhabitants
with as much impatience as a day of the greatest
festivity and triumph.

When the day appointed arrived, a prodigious
number of people appeared, dressed as splendidly as
their circumstances would allow. In the great square
was raised a high scaffold ; and thither, from seven
in the morning till the evening, were brought crimi-
nals of both sexes ; all the inquisitions in the king-
dom sending their prisoners to Madrid. Twenty
men and women of these prisoners, with one rene-
gado Mahometan, were ordered to be burnt ; fifty
Jews and Jewesses, having never before been im-
prisoned, and repenting of their crime, were senten-
ced to a long confinement, and to wear a yellow cap ;
and ten others, indicted for bigamy, witchcraft, and
other crimes, were sentenced to be whipped, and
then sent to the galleys : these last wore large paste-
board caps, with inscriptions on them, having a hal-
ter about their necks, and torches in their hands.

On this solemn occasion the whole court of Spain
was present. The grand inquisitor's chair was pla-
ced in a sort of tribunal far above that of the king.
The nobles here acted the part of the sheriff's offi-
cers in England, leading such criminals as were to
be burned, and holding them when fast bound with
thick cords : the rest of the criminals were conduct-
ed by the familiars of the inquisition.

168 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

Among those who were to suffer, was a young Jew-
ess of exquisite beauty, only seventeen years of age.
Being on the same side of the scaffold where the queen
was seated, she addressed her, in hopes of obtaining a
pardon, in the following pathetic speech : " Great
queen ! will not your royal presence be of some ser-
vice to me in my miserable condition ? Have regard
to my youth ; and, oh ! consider that I am about to
die for professing a religion imbibed from my earliest
infancy ! 77 Her majesty seemed greatly to pity her
distress, but turned away her eyes, as she did not dare
to speak a word in behalf of a person who had been
declared a heretic by the inquisition.

Mass now began, in the midst of which the priest
came from the altar, placed near the scaffold, and
seated himself in a chair prepared for that purpose.
Then the chief inquisitor descended from the amphi-
theatre, dressed in his cope, and having a mitre on
his head. After bowing to the altar, he advanced
towards the king's balcony, and went up to it, attend-
ed by some of his officers, carrying a cross and the
gospels, with a book containing the oath by which
the kings of Spain oblige themselves to protect the
Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and support,
with all their power, the prosecutions and decrees
of the inquisition. On the approach of the inquisi-
tor, and on his presenting this book to the king, his
majesty rose up bareheaded, and swore to maintain
the oath, which was read to him by one of his coun
sellors : after which the king continued standing till
the inquisitor had returned to his place ; when the
secretary of the holy office mounted a sort of pulpit,
and administered a like oath to the counsellors and
the whole assembly. The mass was begun about
twelve at noon, and did not end till nine in the eve-
ning, being protracted by a proclamation of the sen-
tences of the several criminals, which were all sepa-
rately rehearsed aloud one after the other. Next
followed the burning of the twenty-one men and wo-

THE INQUISITION. 169

m&n, whose intrepidity in suffering that horrid death
was truly astonishing ; some thrust their hands and
feet into the flames with the most dauntless fortitude ;
and all of them yielded to their fate with such reso-
lution, that many of the amazed spectators lamented
that such heroic souls had not been more enlightened!
The situation of the king was so near to the crim-
inals, that their dying groans were very audible to
him : he could not, however, he absent from this
dreadful scene, as it is esteemed a religious one ; and
his coronation oath obliges him to give sanction by
his presence to all the acts of the tribunal.

Another Ait to da Fe.

Another Auto da Fe is thus described by Dr. Ged-
des : "At the place of execution there are so many
stakes set as there are prisoners to be burned, a large
quantity of dry furze being set about them. The
stakes of the protestants, or, as the inquisitors call
them, the professed, are about four yards high, and
have each a small board, whereon the prisoner is
seated within half a yard of the top. The professed
then go up a ladder betwixt two priests, who attend
the whole day of execution. When they come even
with the fore-mentioned board, they turn about to the
people, and the priests spend near a quarter of an
hour in exhorting them to be reconciled to the see of
Rome. On their refusing, the priests come down,
and the executioner ascends, turns the professed from
off the ladder upon the seat, chains their bodies close
to the stakes, and leaves them. Then the priests go
up a second time to renew their exhortations, and if
they find them ineffectual, usually tell them, at part-
ing, that they leave them to the devil, who is stand-
ing at their elbow ready to receive their souls, and
carry them with him into the flames of hell-fire, as
soon as they are out of their bodies.

"A general shout is then raised, and when the
priests get off the ladder, the universal cry is, i Let

15

170 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

the dogs' beards be made,' which implies, singe their
beards ; this is accordingly performed by means of
flaming furzes thrust against their faces with long
poles. This barbarity is repeated till their faces are
burnt, and is accompanied with loud acclamations.
Fire is then set to the furzes, and the criminals are
consumed."

Inquisition of Portugal

The inquisition of Portugal is exactly upon a sim-
ilar plan to that of Spain, having been instituted
about the same time, and put under the same regula-
tions, and the proceedings nearly resemble each
other. The house, or rather palace, of the inquisition,
is a noble edifice. It contains four courts, each about
forty feet square, round which are about 300 dun-
geons or cells. The dungeons on the ground-floor
are for the lowest class of prisoners, and those on the
second floor are for persons of superior rank. The
galleries are built of free stone, and hid from view,
both within and without, by a double wall of about
fifty feet high. So extensive is the whole prison,
which contains so many turnings and windings, that
none but those well acquainted with it can find the
way through its various avenues. The apartments
of the chief inquisitor are spacious and elegant ; the
entrance is through a large gate, which leads into a
court-yard, round which are several chambers, and
some large saloons for the king, royal family, and the
rest of the court, to stand and observe the executions
during an Auto da Fe.

A testoon (seven-pence half-penny English money)
is allowed to every prisoner daily ; and the principal
jailer, accompanied by two other officers, monthly vis-
its every prisoner, to inquire how he would have his
allowance laid out. This visit, however, is only a
matter of form, for the jailer usually lays out the
money as he pleases, and commonly allows the pri-
soner daily a porringer of broth, half a pound of

THE INQUISITION. 171

beef, a small piece of bread, and a trifling portion of
cheese.

Sentinels walk about continually to listen ; if the
least noise is heard, they call to and threaten the
prisoner ; if the noise is repeated, a severe beating
ensues. The following is a fact : a prisoner having
a violent cough, one of the guards came and ordered
him not to make a noise ; to which he replied that
it was not in his power to forbear. The cough
increasing, the guard went into the cell, stripped the
poor creature naked, and beat him so unmercifully
that he soon after died.

Sometimes a prisoner passes months without know-
ing of what he is accused, or having the least idea of
when he is to be tried. The jailer at length informs
him that he must petition for a trial. This ceremony
being gone through, he is taken for examination.
When they come to the door of the tribunal, the
jailer knocks three times, to give the judges notice of
their approach. A bell is rung by one of the judges,
when an attendant opens the door, admits the prisoner,
and seats him on a stool.

The prisoner is then ordered by the president to
kneel down, and lay his right hand upon a book,
which is presented to him close shut. This being
complied with, the following question is put to him :
" Will you promise to conceal the secrets of the ho-
ly office, and to speak the truth?" Should he an-
swer in the negative, he is remanded to his cell, and
cruelly treated. If he answer in the affirmative, he
is ordered to be again seated, and the examination
proceeds ; when the president asks a variety of ques-
tions, and the clerk minutes both them and the an-
swers.

When the examination is closed, the bell is again
rung, the jailer appears, and the prisoner is ordered
to withdraw, with this exhortation : " Tax your me-
mory, recollect all the sins you have ever committed,
and when you are again brought here, communicate

172 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

them to the holy office." The jailers and attendants,
when apprized that the prisoner has made an ingenu-
ous confession, and readily answered every question,
make him a low how, and treat him with an affected
kindness, as a reward for his candour.

He is brought in a few days to a second examina-
tion, with the same formalities as before. The in-
quisitors often deceive prisoners by promising the
greatest lenity, and even to restore their liberty, if
they will accuse themselves ; the unhappy persons,
who are in their power, frequently fall into this snare,
and are sacrificed to their own simplicity. Instances
have occurred of some, who, relying on the faith of
their judges, have accused themselves of what they
were totally innocent of, in expectation of obtaining
their liberty ; and thus became martyrs to their own
folly.

There is another artifice made use of by the in-
quisitors : if a prisoner has too much resolution to
accuse himself, and too much sense to be ensnared
by their sophistry, they proceed thus : a copy of an
indictment against the prisoner is given him, in
which, among many trivial accusations, he is charged
with the most enormous crimes of which human na-
ture is capable. This rouses his temper, and he ex-
claims against such falsehoods. He is then asked
which of the crimes he can deny. He naturally
mentions the most atrocious, and begins to express
his abhorrence of them, when the indictment being
snatched out of his hand, the president says, " By
your denying only those crimes which you mention,
you implicitly confess the rest, and we shall there-
fore proceed accordingly." Sometimes they make
a ridiculous affectation m equity, by pretending that
the prisoner may be indulged with a counsellor, if
he chooses to demand one. Such a request is some-
times made, and a counsellor appointed ; but upon
these occasions, as the trial is a mockery of justice,
so the counsellor is a mere cipher : for he is not

THE INQUISITION. 173

permitted to say any thing that might offend the in-
quisition, or to advance a syllable that might benefit
the prisoner.

Though the inquisitors allow the torture to be
used only three times, yet at those three it is so se-
verely inflicted, that the prisoner either dies under
it, or continues always after a cripple. The follow-
ing is a description of the severe torments occasioned
by the torture, from the account of one who suffered
it the three respective times, but happily survived
its cruelties.

First time of torturing.

The prisoner, on refusing to comply with the in-
iquitous demands of the inquisitors, by confessing all
the crimes they charged him with, was immediately
conveyed to the torture room, which, to prevent the
cries of the sufferers from being heard by the other
prisoners, is lined with a kind of quilting, which
covers all the crevices, and deadens the sound. The
prisoner's horror was extreme on entering this infer-
nal place, when suddenly he was surrounded by six
wretches, who, after preparing the tortures, stripped
him naked to his drawers. He was then laid upon
his back on a kind of stand, filevated a few feet from
the floor. They began by putting an iron collar
round his neck, and a ring to each foot, which fas-
tened him to the stand. His lin*bs being thus stretched
out, they then wound two rope? round each arm, and
two round each thigh ; which r?pes being passed un-
der the scaffold, through holes made for that purpose,
were all drawn tight at the.sanv* instant of time by
four of the men, on a given signal . The pains which
immediately succeeded were intolerable ; the ropes,
which were of the small size, cut through the prisoner's
flesh to the bone, making the blood gush out at eight
different places. As he persisted in isot making any
confession of what the inquisitors required, the rops
were drawn in this manner four times tr^.'vcssfti'v'/,

15*

174 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

A physician and surgeon attended, and often felt
his temples, in order to judge of the danger he might
be in ; by which means his tortures were for a small
time suspended, that he might have sufficient oppor-
tunity of recovering his spirits to sustain each ensuing
torture. During this extremity of anguish, while the
tender frame is being torn, as it were, in pieces,
while at every pore it feels the sharpest pangs of
death, and the agonized soul is just ready to burst
forth, and quit its wretched mansion, the ministers of
the inquisition have the obduracy to look on without
emotion, and calmly to advise the poor distracted
creature to confess his imputed guilt, on doing which
they tell him he may obtain a free pardon, and re-
ceive absolution. All this, however, was ineffectual
with the prisoner, whose mind was strengthened by
a sweet consciousness of innocence, and the divine
consolation of religion.

t While he was thus suffering, the physician and
surgeon were so barbarous as to declare, that if he
died under the torture he would be guilty, by his ob-
stinacy, of self-murder. In short, at the last time of
the ropes being drawn tight, he grew so exceedingly
weak, by the stoppage of the circulation of his' blood,
and the pains he endured, that he fainted away ; up-
on which he was unloosed, and carried back to his
dungeon.

Second time of torturing.

These inhuman wretches, finding that the torture
inflicted, as above described, instead of extorting a
discovery from the prisoner, only served the more
fervently to excite his supplication to heaven for pa-
tience and power to persevere in truth and integrity,
were so barbarous, in six weeks after, as to expose
him to another kind of torture, more severe, if possi-
ble, than the former ; the manner of inflicting which
was as follows : they forced his arms backwards, so
that the palms of his hands were turned outward be-

THE INQUISITION. 175

hind him ; when, by means of a rope that fastened
them together at the wrists, and which was turned
by an engine, they drew them by degrees nearer to
each other in such a manner that the back of each
hand touched and stood exactly parallel to each other.
In consequence of this violent contortion, both his
shoulders were dislocated, and a considerable quan-
tity of blood issued from his mouth. This torture
was repeated thrice ; after which he was again taken
to the dungeon, and delivered to the physician and
surgeon, who, in setting the dislocated bones, put him
to the most exquisite torment.

Third time of torturing.

About two months after the second torture, the
prisoner, being a little recovered, was again ordered
to the torture room, and there made to undergo an-
other kind of punishment. The executioners fasten-
ed a thick iron chain twice round his body, which,
crossing upon his stomach, terminated at the wrists.
They then placed him with his back against a thick
board, at each extremity whereof was a pulley,
through which there run a rope that caught the ends
of the chain at his wrists. Then the executioner,
stretching the end of this rope, by means of a roller
placed at a distance behind him, pressed or bruised
his stomach in proportion as the ends of the chain
were drawn tighter. They tortured him in this man-
ner to such a degree, that his wrists, as well as his
shoulders, were quite dislocated. They were, how-
ever, soon set by the surgeons ; but the barbarians,
not yet satisfied with this infernal cruelty, made him
immediately undergo the like torture a second time;
which he sustained (though, if possible, attended with
keener pains,) with equal constancy and resolution.
He was then again remanded to his dungeon, attended
by the surgeon to dress his bruises and adjust the parts
dislocated ; and here he continued till their Auto da
Fe, or jail delivery, when he was happily discharged.

176 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

It may be judged, from the before-mentioned rela-
tion, what dreadful agony the sufferer must have en-
dured. Most of his limbs were disjointed ; so much
was he bruised and exhausted, as to be unable, for
some weeks, to lift his hand to his mouth ; and his
body became greatly swelled from the inflammations
caused by such frequent dislocations. After his dis-
charge he felt the effects of this cruelty for the remain-
der of his life, being frequently seized with thrilling
and excruciating pains, to which he had never been
subject, till after he had the misfortune to fall into the
power of the merciless and bloody inquisition.
' The unhappy females who fall into their hands,
have not the least favour shown them on account of
the softness of their sex, but are tortured with as much
severity as the male prisoners, with the additional
mortification of having the most shocking indecencies
added to the most savage barbarities.

Should the above mentioned modes of torturing
force a confession from the prisoner, he is remanded
to his horrid dungeon, and left a prey to the melan-
choly of his situation, to the anguish arising from
what he has suffered, and to the dreadful ideas of future
barbarities. Should he refuse to confess, he is, in the
same manner, remanded to his dungeon ; but a stra-
tagem is used to draw from him what the torture fails
to do. A companion is allowed to attend him, under
the pretence of waiting upon, and comforting his mind
till his wounds are healed : this person, who is always
selected for his cunning, insinuates himself into the
good graces of the prisoner, laments the anguish he
feels, sympathizes with him, and taking advantage 01
the hasty expressions forced from him by pain, does
all he can to dive into his secrets. This companion
sometimes pretends to be a prisoner like himself, and
imprisoned on similar charges. This is to draw the
unhappy person into a mutual confidence, and per-
suade him, in unbosoming his grief, to betray his pri-
vate sentiments.

THE INQUISITION. 17?

Frequently these snares succeed, as taey are the
more alluring by being glossed over with the appear-
ance of friendship and" sympathy. Finally, if the
prisoner^ cannot be found guilty, he is either tortured
or harassed to death, though a few have sometimes
had the good fortune to be discharged, but not with-
out having suffered the most dreadful cruelties.

The inquisition also takes cognizance of all new
books ; and tolerates or condemns with the same
justice and impartiality by which all its proceedings
are distinguished.

When a book is published, it is carefully read by
some of the familiars ; who, too ignorant and bigoted
to distinguish truth, and too malicious to relish beau-
ties, search not for the merits, but for the defects of
an author, and pursue the slips of his pen with unre-
mitting diligence. They read with prejudice, judge
with partiality, pursue errors with avidity, and strain
that which is innocent into an offensive meaning.
They misapply, confound, and pervert the sense : and
when they have gratified the malignity of their dispo-
sition, charge their blunders upon the author, that a
prosecution may be founded upon their false concep-
tions, and designed misrepresentations.

Any trivial charge causes the censure of a book ;
but it is to be observed, that the censure is of a three-
fold nature, viz. :

1. When the book is wholly condemned.

2. When it is partly condemned ; that is, when cer-
tain passages are pointed out as exceptionable, and
ordered to be expunged.

3. When it is deemed incorrect ; the meaning of
which is, that a few words or expressions displease
the inquisitors. These, therefore, are ordered to be
altered, and such alterations go under the name of
corrections.

There is a catalogue of condemned books annual-
ly published under the three different heads of cen-
sures, already mentioned, which being printed on a

178 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

large sheet of paper, is hung up in the most public
and conspicuous places. After which, people are
obliged to destroy all such books as come under the
first censure, and to keep none belonging to the other
two censures, unless the exceptionable passages have
been expunged, and the corrections made, as in either
case disobedience would be of the most fatal conse-
quence ; for the possessing or reading the proscribed
books are deemed very atrocious crimes.

The publisher of such books is usually ruined in
his circumstances, and sometimes obliged to pass the
remainder of his life in the inquisition.

Where such an absurd and detestable system ex-
ercises its deadening influence over the literature of
a nation, can we be surprised that the grossest igno-
rance and the most bigoted superstition prevail?
How can that people become enlightened, among
whom the finest productions of genius are prohibited,
all discussion prevented, the most innocent inquiries
liable to misconstruction and punishment, the mate-
rials for thinking proscribed, and even thought itself
chained down and checked by the fear of its escaping
into expression, and thus bringing certain and cruel
punishment on him who has dared to exercise his
reason, the noblest gift of his Almighty creator.
Surely every well wisher to the human race must
rejoice in the downfall of this most barbarous and
infernal of all tribunals.

THE INQUISITION. 179

SECTION II.

BARBARITIES EXERCISED BY THE INQUISITIONS OP
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.

Francis Romanes, a native of Spain, was employ-
ed by the merchants of Antwerp, to transact some
business for them at Bremen. He had been educa-
ted in the Romish persuasion, but going one day into
a protestant church, he was struck with the truths
which he heard, and beginning to perceive the er-
rors of popery, he determined to search farther into
the matter. Perusing the sacred scriptures, and the
writings of some protestant divines, he perceived
how erroneous were the principles which he had for-
merly embraced ; and renounced the impositions of
popery for the doctrines of the reformed church, in
which religion appeared in all its purity. Resolving
to think only of his eternal salvation, he studied re-
ligious truths more than trade, and purchased books
rather than merchandise, convinced that the riches
of the body are trifling to those of the soul. He
therefore resigned his agency to the merchants of
Antwerp, giving them an account at the same time
of his conversion; and then resolving, if possible, to
convert his parents, he went to Spain for that pur-
pose. But the Antwerp merchants writing to the
inquisitors, he was seized upon, imprisoned for some
time, and then condemned to be burnt as a heretic.
He was led to the place of execution in a garment
painted over with devils, and had a paper mitre put
upon his head by way of derision. iVs he passed by
a wooden cross, one of the priests bade him kneel to
it ; but he absolutely refused so to do, saying, " It is
not for Christians to worship wood." Having been
placed upon a pile of wood, the fire quickly reached
him, whereupon he lifted up his head suddenly ; the
priests, thinking he meant to recant, ordered him to
be taken down. Finding, however, that they were

180 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

mistaken, and that he still retained his constancy, he
was placed again upon the pile, where, as long as he
had life and voice remaining, he kept repeating the
seventh psalm.

Horrid treachery of an Inquisitor.

A lady, with her two daughters and her niece, were
apprehended at Seville for professing the protestant
religion. They were all put to the torture : and
when that was over, one of the inquisitors sent for
the youngest daughter, pretended to sympathize with
her, and pity her sufferings ; then binding himself
with a solemn oath not to betray her, he said, "If
you will disclose all to me, I promise you I will pro-
cure the discharge of your mother, sister, cousin, and
yourself." Made confident by his oath, and entrap-
ped by his promises, she revealed the whole of the
tenets they professed ; when the perjured wretch, in-
stead of acting as he had sworn, immediately order-
ed her to be put to the rack, saying, " Now you have
revealed so much, I will make you reveal more."
Refusing, however, to say any thing farther, they were
all ordered to be burnt, which sentence was executed
at the next Auto da Fe.

The keeper of the castle of Triano, belonging to
the inquisitors of Seville, happened to be of a dispo-
sition more mild and humane than is usual with per-
sons in his situation. He gave all the indulgence he
could to the prisoners, and showed them every favour
in his power, with as much secrecy as possible. At
length, however, the inquisitors became acquainted
with his kindness, and determined to punish him se-
verely for it, that other jailers might be deterred
from showing the least traces of that compassion
which ought to glow in the breast of every human
being. With this view they immediately threw him
into a dismal dungeon, and used him with dreadful
barbarity, so that he lost his senses. His deplorable
situation, however, procured him no favour ; for, fran-

THE INQUISITION. 181

tic as he was, they brought him from prison, at an
Auto da Fe, to the usual place of punishment, with
a sanbenito (or garment worn by criminals) on, and
a rope about his neck. His sentence was then read,
and ran thus : that he should be placed upon an ass,
led through the city, receive 200 stripes, and then be
condemned for six years to the galleys. This unhap-
py, frantic wretch, just as they were about to begin
his punishment, suddenly sprung from the back of
the ass, broke the cords that bound him, snatched a
sword from one of the guards, and dangerously
wounded an officer of the inquisition. Being over-
powered by multitudes, he was prevented from doing
further mischief, seized, bound more securely to the
ass, and punished according to his sentence. But so
inexorable were the inquisitors, that, for the rash ef-
fects of his madness, four years were added to his
slavery in the galleys.

A young lady, named Maria de Coceicao, who re
sided with her brother at Lisbon, was taken up by
the inquisitors, and ordered to be put to the rack.
The torments she felt made her confess the charges
against her. The cords were then slackened, and
she was reconducted to her cell, where she remain-
ed till she had recovered the use of her limbs ; she
was then brought again before the tribunal, and or-
dered to ratify her confession. This she absolute-
ly refused to do, telling them that what she had said
was forced from her by the excessive pain she un-
derwent. The inquisitors, incensed at this reply,
ordered her again to be put to the rack, when the
weakness of nature once more prevailed, and she
repeated her former confession. She was immedi-
ately remanded to her cell : and being a third time
brought before the inquisitors, they ordered her to
sign her first and second confessions. She answer-
ed as before, but added, " I have twice given way to
the frailty of the flesh, and perhaps may, while on
the rack, be weak enough to do so a^ain ; but de-

16

182 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

pend upon it, if you torture me a hundred times, as
soon as I am released from the rack I shall deny
what was extorted from me by pain." The inquisi
tors then ordered her to be racked a third time ; and,
during this last trial, she bore the torments with
the utmost fortitude, and could not be persuaded
to answer any of the questions put to her. As her
courage and constancy increased, the inquisitors,
instead of putting her to death, condemned her to a
severe whipping through the public streets, and ban-
ishment for ten years.

A lady of a noble family in Seville, named Jane
Bohorquia, was apprehended on the information of
her sister, who had been tortured and burnt for
professing the protestant religion. Being pregnant,
they let her remain 'olerably quiet till she was
delivered, when they Immediately took away the
child, and put it to nurse, that, it might be brought
up a Roman Catholic. Soon afterwards this un-
fortunate lady was ordered to be racked, which
was done with such severity, that she expired a
week after of the wounds and bruises. Upon this
occasion the inquisitors affected some remorse, and
in one of the printed acts of the inquisition, which
they always publish at an Auto da Fe, this young
lady is thus mentioned : " Jane Bohorquia was
found dead in prison ; after which, upon reviving
the prosecution, the inquisitors discovered she was
innocent. Be it therefore known, that no further
prosecutions shall be carried on against her ; and
that her effects, which were confiscated, shall be
given to the heirs at law." One sentence in the
above ridiculous passage wants explanation, viz.,
that no further prosecutions shall be carried on
against her. This alludes to the absurd custom of
prosecuting and burning the bones of the dead : for
when a prisoner dies in the inquisition, the process
continues the same as if he was living; the bones
are deposited in a chest, and if sentence of guilt is

MASSACRE IN FRANCE. 183

passed, they are brought out at the next Auto da Fe ;
the sentence is read against them with as much so-
lemnity as against a living prisoner, and they are
committed to the flames. In a similar manner are
prosecutions carried on against prisoners who es-
cape ; and when their persons are far beyond the
reach of the inquisitors, they are burnt in effigy.

BOOK VI.

Brief relation of the horrible massacre in France, a. d. 1572.

After a long series of troubles in France, the pa-
pists, seeing nothing could be done against the pro-
testants by open force, began to devise how they
should entrap them by subtlety, and that by two
ways ; first by pretending that an army was to be
sent into the lower country, under the command of
the admiral, prince of Navarre and Conde ; not that
the king had any intention of so doing, but only with
a view to ascertain what force the admiral had un-
der him, who they were, and what were their names.
The second was, a marriage suborned between the
prince of Navarre and the sister of the king of
France, to which were to be invited all the chief
protestants. Accordingly they first began with the
queen of Navarre ; she consented to come to Paris,
where she was at length won over to the king's mind.
Shortly after she fell sick, and died within five days,
not without suspicion of poison ; but her body being
opened, no sign thereof appeared. A certain apoth-
ecary, however, made his boast, that he had killed
the queen with venomous odours and smells, pre-
pared by himself.

184 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Notwithstanding this, the marriage still proceeded.
The admiral, prince of Navarre and Conde, with di-
vers other chief states of the protestants, induced by
the king's letters and many fair promises, came to
Paris and were received with great solemnity. The
marriage at length took place on the 18th of August,
1572, and was solemnized by the cardinal of Bour-
bon, upon a high stage set up on purpose without the
church walls : the prince of Navarre and Conde
came down, waiting for the king's sister, who was
then at mass. This done, the company all went to
the bishop's palace to dinner. In the evening they
were conducted to the king's palace to supper. Four
days after this, the admiral coming from the council
table, on his way was shot at with a pistol, charged
with three bullets, and wounded in both his arms ;
notwithstanding which he still remained in Paris, al-
though his Yidam advised him to flee.

Soldiers were appointed in various parts of the
city, to be ready at watchword, upon which they
rushed out to the slaughter of the protestants, begin-
ning with the admiral, who, being dreadfully wound-
ed, was cast out of the window into the street, where
his head being struck off, was embalmed with spices,
to be sent to the pope. The savage people then cut
off his arms and privy members, and drew him in
that state through the streets of Paris, after which
they took him to the place of execution, out of the
city, and there hanged him up by the heels, exposing
his mutilated body to the scorn of the populace.

The martyrdom of this virtuous man had no soon-
er taken place, than the armed soldiers ran about
slaying all the protestants they could find within the
city. This continued many days, but the greatest
slaughter was in the three first days, in which were
said to be murdered 10,000 men and women, old and
young, of all sorts and conditions. The bodies of
the dead were carried in carts and thrown into the
river, which was all stained therewith ; also whole

MASSACRE IN FRANCE. 185

streams in various parts of the city ran with the
blood of the slain. In the number that were slain of
the more learned sort, were Petrus Ramus, Lambi-
nus, Plateanus, Lomenius, Chapesius, and others.

These brutal deeds were not confined within the
walls of Paris, but extended into other cities and
quarters of the realm, especially to Lyons, Orleans,
Toulouse, and Rouen, where the cruelties were un-
paralleled. Within the space of one month, thirty
thousand protestants, at least, are said to have been
slain, as is credibly reported by those who testify of
the matter.

When intelligence of the massacre was received at
Rome, the greatest rejoicings were made. The pope
and cardinals went in solemn procession to the
church of St. Mark, to give thanks to God. A jubi-
lee was also published, and the ordnance fired from
the castle of St. Angelo. To the person who brought
the news, the cardinal of Lorraine gave 1000 crowns.
Like rejoicings were also made all over France for
this imagined overthrow of the faithful.

The following are among the particulars recorded
of the above enormities.

The admiral, on being wounded in both his arms,
said to Maure, preacher to the queen of Navarre, " O
my brother, I now perceive that I am beloved of my
God, seeing that for his most holy name's sake I do
suffer these wounds." He was slain by Bemjus, who
afterwards reported that he never saw man so con-
stantly and confidently suffer death.

Many honourable men and great personages were
at the same time murdered, namely, Count Roche-
foucault, Telinius, the admiral's son-in-law ; Anto-
nius Claromontus, marquis of Ravely, Lewis Bussius,
Bandineus, Pleuvialius, Bernius, <fcc.

Francis Nompar Caumontius, being in bed with

his two sons, was slain with one of them : the other

Avas strangely preserved, and afterwards came to

great dignity. Stephen Cevaleric Prime, chief trea-

1G*

186 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

surer to the king in Poictiers, a very good man, and
careful of the commonwealth, after he had paid for
his life a large sum of money, was cruelly and perfi-
diously murdered.

Magdalen Brissonet, an excellent woman, and
learned, the widow of Ivermus, master of requests to
the king, flying out of the city in poor apparel, was
taken, cruelly murdered, and cast into the river.

Two thousand were murdered in one day ; and
the same liberty of killing and spoiling continued
several days after.

At Meldis two hundred were cast into prison, and
being brought out as sheep to the slaughter, were
cruelly murdered. There also were twenty- five wo-
men slain.

At Orleans, a thousand men, women, and children
were murdered.

The citizens of Augustobona, hearing of the mas-
sacre at Paris, shut the gates of their town, that no
protestants might escape, and cast all they suspected
into prison, who were afterwards brought forth and
murdered.

At Lyons there were 800 men, women, and chil-
dren most miserably and cruelly murdered. Three
hundred were slain in the archbishop's house. The
monks would not suffer their bodies to be buried.

At Toulouse 200 were murdered.

At Rouen 500 were put to death ; and as Th na-
nus writes, " This example passed unto other cities,
and from cities to towns and villages, so that it is by
many published, that in all the kingdoms, above
30,000 were in these tumults divers ways de-
stroyed."

A little before this massacre, a man, nurse, and
infant, carried to be baptized, were all three mur-
dered.

Bricamotius, a man of seventy years, and Cavagni-
us, were laid upon hurdles and drawn to execution :
and after being in the way reviled and defied with

MASSACRE IN FRANCE. 187

dirt cast upon them, they were hanged. The first
might have been pardoned, if he would publicly con-
fess that the admiral had conspired against the king,
which he refused to do.

At Bourdeaux, by the instigation of a monk, named
Enimund Angerius, 264 persons were cruelly murder-
ed, of whom some were senators. This monk continual-
ly provoked the people in his sermons to this slaughter.

At Agendicum, in Maine, a cruel slaughter of the
protestants was committed by the instigation of
iEmarus, inquisitor of criminal causes. A rumour
being spread abroad that the protestants had taken
secret counsel to invade and spoil the churches, above
a hundred of every estate and sex were by the en-
raged people killed or drowned in the river Igomna,
which runs by the city.

On entering Blois, the duke of Guise (to whom
the city had opened its gates) gave it up to rapine and
slaughter ; houses were spoiled, many protestants
who remained were slain, or drowned in the river ;
neither were women spared, of whom some were
ravished, and more murdered. From thence he went
to Mere, a town two leagues from Blois, where the
protestants frequently assembled at sermons ; which
for many days together was spoiled, many of its in-
habitants killed, and Cassebonius, the pastor, drowned
in the next river.

At Anjou, Albiacus, the pastor, was murdered, cer-
tain women slain, and some ravished.

John Bargeolus, president of Turin, an old man,
being suspected to be a protestant, having bought
with a great sum of money his life and safety, was,
notwithstanding, taken and beaten cruelly with clubs
and staves, and being stripped of his clothes, was
brought to the bank of the river Liger, and hanged
with his head downward in the water up to his breast ;
then his entrails were torn out, while he was yet alive,
and thrown into the river, and his heart put upon a
spear and carried about the city.

1SS BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The town of Barre being taken by the papists, all
kinds of cruelty were there used, children were cut
to pieces, and their bowels and hearts being torn out,
some of the barbarians, in their blind rage, gnawed
them with their teeth.

At Albia of Cahors, upon the Lord's day, the 16th
of December, the papists, at the ringing of a bell,
broke open the houses in which the protestants were
assembled, and killed all they could find ; among
whom was one Cuacerius, a rich merchant, whom
they drew into his house, and then murdered him,
with his wife and children.

In a town called Penna, 300 persons (notwithstand-
ing their lives had been promised them) were mur-
dered by Spaniards, who were newly come to serve
the French king.

The town of None having capitulated to the pa-
pists, upon condition that the foreign soldiers should
depart safe with horse and armour, leaving their en-
signs, that the enemy's soldiers should not enter the
town, and that no harm should be done to the inhab-
itants, who (if they chose) might go into the castle ;
after the yielding of it, the gates were set open, when,
without any regard to these conditions, the soldiers
rushed in, and began murdering and spoiling all
around them. Men and women without distinction
were killed ; the streets resounded with cries and
groans, and flowed with blood. Many were thrown
down headlong from on high. Among others, the
following monstrous act of cruelty was reported : a
certain woman being drawn out of a private place,
into which to avoid the rage of the soldiers she had
fled with her husband, was in his sight shamefully de-
filed ; and then being commanded to draw a sword,
not knowing to what end, was forced by others, who
guided her hand, to give her husband a wound, where-
of he died.

Bordis, a captain under the prince of Conde, at
Mirabellum, was killed, and his naked body cast into

MASSACRE IN FRANCE. 189

the street, that, being unburied, the dogs might eat it.
The prince of Conde being taken prisoner, and his
life promised him, was shot in the neck by Montis-
quius, captain of the dnke of Anjou's guard. Thua-
nus thus speaks of him : " This was the end of Lew-
is Bourbon, prince of Conde, of the king's blood, a
man above the honour of his birth, most honourable
in courage and virtue ; who in valour, constancy, wit,
wisdom, experience^courtesy, eloquence, and liberali-
ty, all which virtues excelled in him, had few equals,
and none, even by the confession of his enemies, su-
perior to him.

At Orleans 100 men and women, being committed
to prison, were, by the furious people, most cruelly
murdered.

The enemies of truth, now glutted with slaughter,
began every where to triumph in the fallacious opin-
ion, that they were the sole lords of men's conscien-
ces ; and, truly, it might appear to human reason,
that by the destruction of his people, God had aban-
doned the earth to the ravages of his enemy. But
he had otherwise decreed, and thousands yet, who
had not bowed the knee to Baal, were called forth to
glory and virtue. The inhabitants of Rochelle, hear-
ing of the cruelties committed on their brethren, re-
solved to defend themselves against the power of the
king ; and their example was followed by various
other towns, with which they entered into a confed-
eracy, exhorting and inspiring one another in the
common cause. To crush this, the king shortly af-
ter summoned the whole power of France, and the
greatest of his nobility, among whom were his royal
brothers ; he then invested Rochelle by sea and land,
and commenced a furious siege, which, but for the
immediate hand of God, must have ended in its de-
struction.

Seven assaults were made against the town, none
of which succeeded. At one time a breach was
made by the tremendous cannonade ; but through

190 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

the undaunted valour of the citizens, assisted even by
their wives and daughters, the soldiers were driven
back with great slaughter.

The siege lasted seven months, when the duke of
Anjou being proclaimed king of Poland, he, in con-
cert with the king of France, entered into a treaty
with the people of Rochelle, which ended in a peace :
conditions containing 25 articles having been drawn
up by the latter, embracing many immunities both
for themselves and other protestants in France, were
confirmed by the king, and proclaimed with great
rejoicings at Rochelle and other cities.

The year following died Charles IX. of France,
the tyrant who had been so instrumental in the cala-
mities above recorded. He was only in the 25th
year of his age, and his death is remarkable and
dreadful. When lying on his bed, the blood gushed
from various parts of his body, and, after lingering in
horrible torments during many months, he at length
expired.

BOOK VII.

Farther accounts of the persecutions in various countries.

SECTION I.
PERSECUTIONS IN BOHEMIA AND GERMANY.

The severity exercised by the Roman Catholics
over the reformed Bohemians, induced the latter to
send two ministers and four laymen to Rome, in the
year 977, to seek redress from the pope. After some
delay their request was granted, and their grievances
redressed. Two things in particular were permitted
to them, viz. to have divine service in their own lan-
guage, and to give the cup in the sacrament to the

PERSECUTIONS IN BOHEMIA. 191

laity. The disputes, however, soon broke out again,
the succeeding popes exerting all their power to re-
sume their tyranny over the minds of the Bohemi-
ans ; and the latter, with great spirit, aiming to pre-
serve their religious liberties.

Some zealous friends of the gospel applied to
Charles, king of Bohemia, a. d. 1375, to call a coun-
cil for an inquiry into the abuses that had crept into
the church, and to make a thorough reformation.
Charles, at a loss how to proceed, sent to the pope
for advice ; the latter, incensed at the affair, only re-
plied, "Punish severely those presumptuous and pro-
fane heretics." The king, accordingly, banished
every one who had been concerned in the applica-
tion : and, to show his zeal for the pope, laid many
additional restraints upon the reformed Christians of
the country.

The martyrdom of John Huss and Jerome of
Prague* greatly increased the indignation of the be-
lievers, and gave animation to .their cause. These
two great and pious men were condemned by order
of the council of Constance, and fifty-eight of the
principal Bohemian nobility interposed in their favour.
Nevertheless they were burnt ; and the pope, in con-
junction with the council of Constance, ordered the
Romish clergy everywhere to excommunicate all
who adopted" their opinions, or murmured at their
fate. In consequence of these orders, great conten-
tions arose between the papists and reformed Bohe-
mians, which produced a violent persecution against
the latter. At Prague it was extremely severe, till
at length the reformed, driven to desperation, armed
themselves, attacked the senate-house, and cast
twelve of its members, with the speaker, out of the
windows. The pope, hearing of this, went to Flo-

* These two great men were first brought to the light of truth by
reading the doctrines of our countryman, John Wickliffe, who, like
the morning star of reformation, first burst from the dark night of
popish error, and illuminated the surrounding world.

192 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

rence, and publicly excommunicated the reformed
Bohemians, exciting the emperor of Germany, and
all other kings, princes, dukes, (fee, to take up arms,
in order to extirpate the whole race ; promising, by
way of encouragement, full remission of all sins to
the most wicked person who should kill one Bohe-
mian protestant. The result of this was a bloody
war : for several popish princes undertook the extir-
pation, or at least expulsion, of the proscribed peo-
ple : while the Bohemians, arming themselves, pre-
pared to repel them in the most vigorous manner.
The popish army prevailing against the protestant
forces at the battle of Cuttenburgh, they conveyed
their prisoners to three deep mines near that town,
and threw several hundreds iuto each, where they
perished in a miserable manner.

Persecution by the Emperor Ferdinand.

The emperor Ferdinand, whose hatred to the pro-
testants was unlimited, not thinking he had suffi-
ciently oppressed them, instituted a high court of re-
formers, upon the plan of the inquisition, with this
difference, that the reformers were to remove from
place to place. The greater part of this court con-
sisted of Jesuits, and from its decisions there was no
appeal. Attended by a body of troops, it made the
tour of Bohemia, and seldom examined or saw a pri-
soner ; but suffered the soldiers to murder the pro-
testants as they pleased, and then to make report of
the matter afterwards.

The first who fell a victim to their barbarity was
an aged minister, whom they killed as he lay sick in
bed. Next day they robbed and murdered another,
and soon after shot a third, while preaching in his
pulpit.

They ravished a daughter of a protestant before
his face, and then tortured her father to death. They
tied a minister and his wife back to back, and burnt
them. Another minister they hung upon a cross-

JOHN HUSS. 193

beam, and making a fire under him, broiled him to
death. A gentleman they hacked into small pieces ;
and they filled a young man's mouth with gunpow-
der, and setting fire to it, blew his head to pieces.

But their principal rage being directed against the
clergy, they seized a pious protestant minister, whom
they tormented daily for a month, in the following
manner : they placed him amidst them, and derided
and mocked him ; they spit in his face, and pinched
him in various parts of his body ; they hunted him
like a wild beast, till ready to expire with fatigue ;
they made him run the gauntlet, each striking him
with a twig, their fists, or ropes ; they scourged him
with wires ; they tied him up by the heels with his
head downwards, till the blood started out of his
nose, mouth, &c. ; they hung him up by the arms
till they were dislocated, and then had them set
again ; burning papers dipped in oil were placed be-
tween his fingers and toes ; his flesh was torn with
red-hot pincers ; he was put to the rack ; they pulled
off the nails of his fingers and toes : he was bastina-
doed on his feet ; a slit was made in his ears and
nose; they set him upon an ass, and whipped him
through the town ; his teeth were pulled out ; boiling
lead was poured upon his fingers and toes ; and,
lastly, a knotted cord was twisted about his forehead
in such a manner as to force out his eyes. In the
midst of these enormities, particular care was taken
lest his wounds should mortify, and his sufferings be
thus shortened, till the last day, when the forcing
out of his eyes caused his death.

SECTION II.

LIFE, SUFFERINGS, AND MARTYRDOM OF JOHN HUSS.

John Huss was born in the village of Hussenitz,
in Bohemia, about the year 13S0. His parents gave
him the best education they could bestow, and hav-

17

194 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

ing acquired a tolerable knowledge of the classics, at
a private school, he was sent to the university of
Prague, where the powers of his mind, and his dili-
gence in study, soon rendered him conspicuous.

In 1408 he commenced bachelor of divinity, and
was successively chosen pastor of the church of Beth-
lehem, in Prague, and dean and rector of the univer-
sity. The duties of these stations he discharged, with
great fidelity, and became at length so conspicuous
for the boldness and truth of his preaching, that he
attracted the notice and raised the malignity of the
pope and his creatures.

His influence in the university was very great, not
only on account of his learning, eloquence, and ex-
emplary life, but also on account of some valuable
privileges he had obtained from the king in behalf of
that seminary.

The English reformer, Wickliffe, had so kindled
the light of reformation that it began to illumine the
darkest corners of popery and ignorance. His doc-
trines were received in Bohemia with avidity and
zeal by great numbers of people, but by none so par-
ticularly as John Huss, and his friend and fellow-
martyr, Jerome of Prague.

The reformists daily increasing, the archbishop of
Prague issued a decree to prevent the farther spread-
ing of Wickliffe's writings. This, however, had an
effect quite the reverse to what he expected, for it
stimulated the converts to greater zeal, and at length
almost the whole university united in promoting
them.

Strongly attached to the doctrines of Wickliffe,
Huss strenuously opposed the decree of the arch
bishop, who, notwithstanding, obtained a bull from
the pope, authorizing him to prevent the publishing
of Wickliffe's writings in his province. By virtue
of this bull, he proceeded against four doctors, who
had not delivered up some copies, and prohibited
them to preach. Against these proceedings, Huss,

JOHN HUSS. 195

with some other members of the university, protest-
ed, and entered an appeal from the sentences of the
archbishop. ^The pope no oooner heard of this, than
he granted a commission to cardinal Colonna, to cite
John Huss to appear at the court of Rome, to an-
swer accusations laid against him, of preaching her-
esies. From this appearance Huss desired to be ex-
cused, and so greatly was lie favoured in Bohemia,
that king Winceslaus, the queen, the nobility, and
the university, desired the pope to dispense with such
an appearance ; as also that he would not surfer the
kingdom of Bohemia to lie under the accusation of
heresy, but permit them to preach the gospel with
freedom in their places of worship.

Three proctors appeared for Huss before cardinal
Colonna. They made an excuse for his absence,
and said they were ready to answer in his behalf.
But the cardinal declared him contumacious, and ac-
cordingly excommunicated him. On this the proc-
tors appealed to the pope, who appointed four cardi-
nals to examine the process : these commissioners
confirmed the sentence of the cardinal, and extended
the excommunication not only to Huss, but to all his
friends and followers. Huss then appealed from this
unjust sentence to a future council, but without suc-
cess, and, notwithstanding so severe a decree, and an
expulsion from his church in Prague, he retired to
Hussenitz, his native place, where he continued to
promulgate the truth, both from the pulpit and with
the pen.

He here compiled a treatise, in which he main-
tained that reading the books of protestants could not
be absolutely forbidden. He wrote in defence of
Wickliffe's book on the Trinity ; and boldly declared
against the vices of the pope, and cardinals, and the
clergy of those corrupt times. Besides these, he-
wrote many other books, all of which were penned
with such strength of argument as greatly facilitated
the spreading of his doctrines.

196 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

In England, the persecutions against the protest-
ants had been carried on for some time with relent-
less cruelty. They now extended to Germany and
Bohemia, where Huss and Jerome of Prague were
particularly singled out to suffer in the cause of re-
ligion.

In the month of November, 1414, a general coun
cil was assembled at Constance, in Germany, for the
purpose of determining a dispute then existing be-
tween three persons who contended for the papal
throne/

John Huss was summoned to appear at this coun-
cil ; and to dispel any apprehensions of danger, the
emperor sent him a safe conduct, giving him permis-
sion freely to come to and return from the council.
On receiving this information, he told the persons
who delivered it u that he desired nothing more than
to purge himself publicly of the imputation of here-
sy ; and that he esteemed himself happy in having so
fair an opportunity of it, as at the council to which
he was summoned to attend."

In the latter end of November he set out to Con-
stance, accompanied by two Bohemian noblemen,
who were among the most eminent of his disciples,
and who followed him merely through respect and
affection. He caused some placards to be fixed upon
the gates of the churches of Prague, in which he de-
clared that he went to the council to answer all alle-
gations that might be made against him. He also
declared, in all the cities through which he passed,
that he was going to vindicate himself at Constance,
and invited all his adversaries to be present.

* These were, John, proposed and set up by the Italians ; Gre-
gory, by the French; and Benedict, by the Spaniards. The coun-
cil continued four years, in which the severest laws were enacted
to crush the protestants. Pope John was deposed and obliged to
fly, the most heinous crimes being proved against him; among
which were, his attempt to poison his predecessor, his being a
gamester, a liar, a murderer, an adulterer, and guilty of unnatural
offences.

JOHN HUSS. 197

On his way he met with every mark of affection
and reverence from people of all descriptions. The
streets, and even the roads, were thronged with peo-
ple, whom respect, rather than curiosity, had brought
together. He was ushered into the towns with great
acclamations ; and he passed through Germany in a
kind of triumph. " I thought," said he, " I had been
an outcast. I now see my worst friends are in Bo-
hemia."

On his arrival at Constance, he immediately took
lodgings in a remote part of the city. Soon after,
came one Stephen Paletz, who was engaged by the
clergy of Prague to manage the intended prosecution
against him. Paletz was afterwards joined by Mi-
chael de Cassis, on the part of the court of Rome.
These two declared themselves his accusers, and
drew up articles against him, which they presented
to the pope, and the prelates of the council.

Notwithstanding the promise of the emperor, to
give him a safe conduct to and from Constance, he
regarded not his word : but, according to the maxim
of the council, that " Faith is not to be kept with
heretics," when it was known he was in the city, he
was immediately arrested, and committed prisoner
to a chamber in the palace. This breach was par-
ticularly noticed by one of Huss's friends, who urged
the imperial safe-conduct ; but the pope replied, he
never granted any such thing, nor was he bound by
that of the emperor.

"While Huss was under confinement, the council
acted the part of inquisitors. They condemned the
doctrines of WicklifTe, and, in their impotent malice,
ordered his remains to be dag up, and burnt to ashes ;
which orders were obeyed.

In the meantime the nobility of Bohemia and Po-
land used all their interest for Hnss ; and so far pre-
vailed as to prevent his being condemned unheard,
which had been resolved on by the commissioners
appointed to try him.

17*

198 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Before his trial took place, his enemies employed
a Franciscan friar, who might entangle him in his
words, and then appear against him. This man, of
great ingenuity and subtlety, came to him in the cha-
racter of an idiot, and with seeming sincerity and zeal,
requested to be taught his doctrines. But Huss soon
discovered him, and told him that his manners wore
a great semblance of simplicity ; but that his ques-
tions discovered a depth and design beyond the reach
of an idiot. He afterwards found this pretended fool
to be Didace, one of the deepest logicians in Lom-
bardy.

At length, he was brought before the council, when
the articles exhibited against him were read ; they
were upwards of forty in number, and chiefly ex-
tracted from his writings.* B

On his examination being finished, he was taken
from the court, and a resolution was formed by the
council, to burn him as a heretic, unless he retract-
ed. He was then committed to a filthy prison, where,
in the day-time, he was so laden with fetters on his
legs, that he could hardly move ; and every night he
was fastened by his hands to a ring against the walls
of the prison.

He continued some days in this situation, in which
time many noblemen of Bohemia interceded in his
behalf. They drew up a petition for his release,
which was presented to the council by several of the
most illustrious nobles of Bohemia ; notwithstanding
which, so many enemies had Huss in the court, that
no attention was paid to it, and the persecuted reformer
was compelled to bear with the punishment inflicted
on him by that merciless tribunal. .

Shortly after the petition was presented, four bish-
ops and two lords were sent by the emperor to the
prison, in order to prevail on Huss to make a recan-

* That the reader may form a judgment of his writings, we here -
give one of the articles for which he was condemned : " An evil
and a wicked pope is not the successor of Peter, but of Judas."

JOHN IIUSS. 199

tation. But he called God to witness that he was
not conscious of having preached or written any-
thing against his truth, or the faith of his orthodox
church. The deputies then represented the great
wisdom and authority of the council : to which Huss
replied, " Let them send the meanest person of that
council, who can convince me by argument from the
word of God, and I will submit my judgment to him."
This pious answer had no effect, because he would
not take the authority of the council upon trust, with-
out the least shadow of an argument offered. The
deputies, therefore, finding they could make no im-
pression on him, departed, greatly astonished at the
strength of his resolution.

On the 4th of July, he was, for the last time,
brought before the council. After a long examina-
tion, he was desired to abjure, which he refused,
without the least hesitation. The bishop of Lodi
then preached a sermon, the text Oi which was, "Let
the body of sin be destroyed," (concerning the de-
struction of heretics,) the prologue to his intended
punishment. After the close of the sermon his fate
was determined, his vindication rejected, and judg-
ment pronounced. The council censured him for
being obstinate and incorrigible, and ordained, " That
he should be degraded from the priesthood, his books
publicly burnt, and himself delivered to the secular
power."

He received the sentence without the least emo-
tion ; and at the close of it he kneeled down with his
eyes lifted towards heaven, and, with all the magna-
nimity of a primitive martyr, thus exclaimed : "May
thy infinite mercy, O my God ! pardon this injustice
of mine*enemies. Thou knowest the injustice of my
accusations : how deformed with crimes I have been
represented : how I have been oppressed with worth-
less witnesses, and a false condemnation ; yet, O my
God ! let that mercy of thine, which no tongue can
express, prevail with thee not to avenge my wrongs."

200 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

These excellent sentences were received as so many
expressions of heresy, and only tended to inflame his
adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by
the council stripped him of his priestly garments,
degraded him, and put a paper mitre on his head,
on which were painted devils, with this inscription :
" A ringleader of heretics."

This mockery was received by the heroic martyr
with an air of unconcern, which appeared to give him
dignity rather than disgrace. A serenity appeared in
his looks, which indicated that his soul had cut off
many stages of a tedious journey in her way to the
realms of everlasting happiness.

The ceremony of degradation being over, the bish-
ops delivered him to the emperor, who committed
him to the care of the duke of Bavaria. His books
were burnt at the gate of the church ; and on the 6th
of July he was led to the suburbs of Constance, to be
burnt alive.

When he had reached the place of execution, he
fell on his knees, sung several portions of the Psalms,
looked steadfastly towards heaven, and repeated, " In-
to thy hands, O Lord ! do I commit my spirit; thou
hast redeemed me, O most good and faithful God."

As soon as the chain was put about him at the
stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, " My Lord
Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this,
for my sake : why then should I be ashamed of this old
rusty one ?"

When the fagots were piled around him, the duke
of Bavaria desired him to abjure. " No," said he,
" I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency;
and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my
blood." He then said to the executioner, " You are
now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose
in the Bohemian language,) but in a century you will
have a swan whom you can neither roast nor boil."
If this were spoken in prophecy, he must have meant
Martin Luther, who flourished about a century after,
and who had a swan for his arms.

PERSECUTIONS IN GERMANY. 201

As soon as the fagots were lighted the heroic mar-
tyr sung a bymn, with so loud and cheerful a voice,
that he was heard through all the crackling of the
combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length
his voice was interrupted by the flames, which soon
put a period to his life.

SECTION IV.

GENERAL PERSECUTIONS IN GERMANY.

Martin Luther, by unmasking popery, and by
the vigour with which he prosecuted his doctrines,
caused the papal throne to shake to its foundation.
So terrified was the pope at his rapid success, that
he determined, in order to stop his career, to engage
the emperor Charles V. in his scheme of utterly ex-
tirpating all who had embraced the reformation. To
accomplish which, he gave the emperor 200,000
crowns ; promised to maintain 12,000 foot and 5000
horse for six months, or during a campaign ; allow-
ed the emperor to receive one half of the revenues
of the clergy in Germany during the war ; and per-
mitted him to pledge the abbey-lands for 500,000
crowns, to assist in carrying on hostilities. Thus
prompted and supported, the emperor, with a heart
eager, both from interest and prejudice for the cause,
undertook the extirpation of the protestants ; and for
this purpose raised a formidable army in Germany,
Spain, and Italy.

The protestant princes, in the mean time, were
not idle ; but formed a powerful confederacy, in or-
der to repel the impending blow. A great army was
raised, and the command given to the elector of Sax-
ony, and the landgrave "of Hesse. The imperial
forces were commanded by the emperor in person,
and all Europe waited in anxious suspense the event
of the war.

202 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

At length the armies met, and a desperate engage-
ment ensued, in which the protestants were defeated,
and the elector of Saxony and landgrave of Hesse
both taken prisoners. This calamitous stroke was
succeeded by a persecution, in which the most hor-
rible cruelties were inflicted on the protestants, and
suffered by them with a fortitude which only religion
can impart.

The persecutions in Germany having been sus-
pended many years, again broke out in 1630, on ac-
count of a war between the emperor and the king of
Sweden ; the latter being a protestant prince, the
protestants of Germany, in consequence, espoused
his cause, which greatly exasperated the emperor
against them.

The imperial army having laid siege to the town
of Passewalk, (then defended by the Swedes,) took
it by storm, and committed the most monstrous out-
rages on the occasion. They pulled down the
churches, pillaged and burnt the houses, massacred
the ministers, put the garrison to the sword, hanged
the townsmen, ravished the women, smothered the
children, &c. &c.

In 1631, a most bloody scene took place at the
protestant city of Magdeburg. The generals Tilly
and Pappenheim having taken it by storm, upwards
of 20,000 persons, without distinction of rank, sex,
or age, were slain during the carnage, and 6,000
drowned in attempting to escape over the river Elbe.
After which the remaining inhabitants were stripped
naked, severely scourged, had their ears cropped, and
being yoked together like oxen, were turned adrift.

On the popish army's taking the town of Hoxter,
all the inhabitants, with the garrison, were put to the
sword.

When the imperial forces prevailed at Griphen-
burgh, they shut up the senators in the senate-cham-
ber, and surrounding it by lighted straw, suffocated
them.

PERSECUTIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS. 203

Franhendal, notwithstanding- it surrendered upon
articles of capitulation, suffered as cruelly as other
places, and at Heidelburg many were shut up in pri-
son and starved.

To enumerate the various species of cruelty prac-
tised by the imperial troops, under Count Tilly,
would excite disgust and horror. That sanguinary
monster, in his progress through Saxony, not only
permitted every excess in his soldiers, but actually
commanded them to put all their enormities in prac-
tice. Some of these are so unparalleled, that we feel
ourselves obliged to mention them.

In Hesse-Cassel some of the troops entered an hos-
pital, in which were principally mad women, when,
stripping all the poor wretches naked, they made
them run about the streets for their diversion, and
then put them to death.

In Pomerania, some of the troops entering a small
town, seized upon all the young women and girls of
upwards of ten years, and then placing their parents
in a circle, they ordered them to sing psalms, while
they ravished their children, or else they swore they
would cut them to pieces afterwards. They then
took all the married women who had young children,
and threatened, if they did not consent to the grati-
fication of their lusts, to burn their children before
their faces, in a large fire which they had kindled for
that purpose.

SECTION V.

PERSECUTIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS.

The glorious light of the gospel spreading over
every part of the continent, and chasing thence the
dark night of ignorance, increased the alarm of the
pope, who urged the emperor to commence a per-
secution against the prolestants ; when many thou-
sands fell martyrs to superstitious malice and barbar-
ous bigotry: among whom were the following.

204 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

A pious protestant widow, named Wendelinuta,
was apprehended on account of her religion, when
several monks unsuccessfully endeavoured to per-
suade her to recant. Their attempts, however, prov-
ing ineffectual, a Roman Catholic lady of her acquain-
tance desired to be admitted to the dungeon in which
she was confined, promising to exert herself towards
inducing the prisoner to abjure her religion. On be-
ing admitted to the dungeon, she did her utmost to
perform the task she had undertaken : but finding
her endeavours fruitless, she said, " Dear Wendeli-
nuta, if you will not embrace our faith, at least keep
the things which you profess secret within your own
bosom, and strive to prolong your life." To which
the widow replied, " Madam, you know not what
you say ; for with the heart we believe to righteous-
ness, but with the tongue confession is made unto
salvation." Still holding her faith against every ef-
fort of the powers of darkness, her goods were con-
fiscated, and she was condemned to be burnt. At
the place of execution a monk presented a cross to
her, and bade, her kiss and worship God. To which
she answered, " I worship no wooden god, but the
eternal God, who is in heaven." She was then ex-
ecuted, but at the intercession of the before mention-
ed lady, it was granted that she should be strangled
before the fagots were kindled.

At Col en, two protestant clergymen were burnt :
a tradesman of Antwerp, named Nicholas, was tied
up in a sack, thrown into the river, and drowned ;
and Pistorius, an accomplished scholar and student,
was carried to the market of a Dutch village, and
burnt.

Assassination of the Prince of Orange,

Baltazar Gerard, a native, of France Compte, a big-
oted and furious Roman Catholic, thinking to advance
his own fortune and the popish cause by one despe-
rate act, resolved upon the assassination of the prince

Assassination of the Prince of Orange — Page 20;

Sufferings of the Waldenses. — Page 213.

\

PERSECUTIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS. 205

of Orange. Having provided himself with fire-arms,
he watched the prince as he passed through the great
hall of his palace to dinner, and demanded a pass-
port. The princess of Orange, observing in his tone
of voice and manner something confused and sinofu-
lar, asked who he was, saying she did not like his
countenance. The prince answered, it was one that
demanded a passport, which he should have present-
ly. Nothing further transpired until after dinner,
when on the return of the prince and princess through
the same hall, the assassin, from behind one of the
pillars, fired at the prince : the balls entering at the
left side, and passing through the right, wounded in
their passage the stomach and vital parts. The prince
had only power to say, " Lord, have mercy upon my 4
soul, and upon this poor people," and immediately
expired.

The death of this virtuous prince, who was con-
sidered as the father of his people, spread universal
sorrow throughout the United Provinces. The as-
sassin was immediately taken, and received sentence
to be put to death in the most exemplary manner ; yet
such was his enthusiasm and blindness for his crime,
that, while suffering for it, he coolly said, "Were I at
liberty, I would repeat the same."

In different parts of Flanders, numbers fell victims
to popish jealousy and cruelty. In the city of Va-
lence, in particular, fifty-seven of the principal inha-
bitants were butchered in one day, for refusing to
embrace the Romish superstition ; besides whom,
great numbers suffered in confinement, till they per-
ished.

18

206 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

BOOK VIII.

Persecutions of the Protestants, in various countries not befor*
described.

SECTION I.
PERSECUTIONS IN ABYSSINIA

About the end of the fifteenth century, some Por-
tuguese missionaries made a voyage to Abyssinia, and
began to propagate the Roman Catholic doctrines
among the Abyssinians, who professed Christianity
before the arrival of the missionaries.

The priests gained such an influence at court, that
the emperor consented to abolish the established
rites of the Ethiopian church, and to admit those
of Rome ; and, soon after, consented to receive a pa-
triarch from the pope, and to acknowledge the su-
premacy of the latter. This innovation, however,
did not take place without great opposition. Seve-
ral of the most powerful lords, and a majority of the
people, who professed the primitive Christianity es-
tablished in Abyssinia, took up arms in their defence
against the emperor. Thus, by the artifices of the
court of Rome and its emissaries, the whole empire
was thrown into commotion, and a war commenced,
which was carried on through the reigns of many
emperors, and which ceased not for above a century.
All this time the Roman Catholics were strengthen-
ed by the power of the court, by means of which con-
junction, the primitive Christians of Abyssinia were
severely persecuted, and multitudes perished by the
hands of their inhuman enemies.

Persecutions hi Turkey, — Account of Mahomet,

Mahomet was born at Mecca, in Arabia, a. d. 571.
His parents were poor, and his education mean ; but
by the force of his genius, and an uncommon subtle

PERSECUTIONS IN TURKEY. 207

ty, he raised himself to be the founder of a widely
spread religion, and the sovereign of kingdoms. His
Alcoran is a jumble of paganism. Judaism, and Chris-
tianity. In composing it, he is said to have been as-
sisted by a Jew and a Roman Catholic priest. It is
adapted entirely to the sensual appetites and passions ;
and the chief promises held out by it to its believers,
are the joys of a paradise of women and wine. Ma-
homet established his doctrine by the power of the
sword. " The sword," says he, " is the key of hea-
ven and of hell. Whoever falls in battle, his sins are
forgiven him: his wounds shall be resplendent as
vermilion, and odoriferous as musk : the loss of his
limbs shall be supplied with the wings of angels."
He allowed that Christ was a great prophet and a
holy man ; that he was born of a virgin, received up
into glory, and shall come again to destroy Anti-
christ.

He therefore, in his early career, affected to re-
spect the Christians. But no sooner was his power
established, than he displayed himself in his true
colours, as their determined and sanguinary enemy.
This he proved by his persecutions of them in his
life-time, and by commanding those persecutions to
be continued by his deluded followers, in his Alco-
ran, particularly in that part entitled, " The Chap-
ter of the Sword." From him the Turks received
their religion, which they still maintain. Mahomet
and his descendants, in the space of thirty years, sub-
dued Arabia, Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria, Egypt, and
Persia. They soon, however, broke into divisions
and wars amongst themselves. But the princes of
the Saracens, assuming the title of Sultan, continued
their rule over Syria, Egypt, and Africa, for the
space of about 400 years, when the Saracen king of
Persia commencing war against the Saracen sultan
of Babylon, the latter brought to his aid the Turks.
These Turks, feeling their own strength, in time turn-
ed their arms against their masters, and by the valour

208 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

of Othman, from whom the family who now fill the
Turkish throne are descended, they soon subdued
them, and established their empire.

Constantinople, after having been for many ages
an imperial Christian city, was invested, in 1453, by
the Turks, under Mahomet the Second,* whose army
consisted of 300,000 men, and, after a siege of six
weeks, it fell into the hands of the infidels, and the
Turks have, to this day, retained possession of it.t
They no sooner found themselves masters of it, than
they began to exercise on the inhabitants the most
unremitting barbarities, destroying them by every
method of ingenious cruelty. Some they roasted
alive on spits,. others they starved, some they flayed
alive, and left them in that horrid manner to perish :
many were sawn asunder, and others torn to pieces
by horses. Three days and nights was the city given
to spoil, in which time the soldiers were licensed to
commit every enormity. The body of the emperor
being found among the slain, Mahomet commanded
his head to be stuck on a spear, and carried round
the town for the mockery of the soldiers.

Attack on Rhodes.

About the year 1521, Solyman the First took
Belgrade from the Christians. Two years after, he
with a fleet of 450 ships, and an army of 300,000

* He was the ninth of the Ottoman race, and subdued all Greece.

t About fifteen years before this fatal event took place, the city
had yielded the liberties of its church to the pope of Rome. A
manifest want of patriotism was evidenced in the inhabitants, who,
instead of bringing forth their treasures to the public service and de-
fence of the place, buried them in vast heaps j insomuch, that when
Mahomet, suspecting the case, commanded the earth to be dug up,
and found immense hoards, he exclaimed, " How was it that this
place lacked ammunition and fortification, amidst such abundance
of riches V The Turks found a crucifix in the great church of
St. Sophia, on the head of which they wrote, " This is the God
of the Christians;" and then carried it with a trumpet around the
city, and exposed it to the contempt of the soldiers, who were
commanded to spit upon it. Thus did the superstition of Rome
afford a triumph to the enemies of the cross.

PERSECUTIONS IN TURKEY. 209

men, attacked Rhodes, then defended by the knights
of Jerusalem. These heroes resisted the infidels till
all their fortifications were levelled with the ground,
their provisions exhausted, and their ammunition
spent ; when, finding no succours from the Christian
princes, they surrendered, the siege having lasted
about six months, in which the Turks suffered pro-
digiously, no Igss than 30,000 of them having died
by the bloody flux. After this, Solyman retook Buda
from the Christians, and treated those who were
found there with great cruelty. Some had their
eyes put out, others their hands, noses, and ears cut
off. Pregnant women were ripped open, and their
fruit cast into the flames, while many children were
buried up to their necks in the earth, and left to
perish.

Siege of Vienna.

Mad with conquest, Solyman now proceeded west-
ward to Vienna, glutting himself with slaughter on
his march, and vainly hoping, in a short time, to lay
all Europe at his feet, and to banish Christianity from
the earth.

Having pitched his tent before the walls of Yienna,
he sent three Christian prisoners into^the town, to
terrify the citizens with an account of the strength
of his army, while a great many more, whom he had
taken in his march, were torn asunder by horses.
Happily for the Germans, three days only before the
arrival of the Turks, the earl palatine Frederick, to
whom was assigned the defence of Yienna, had en-
tered the town with 14,000 chosen veterans, besides
a body of horse. Solyman sent a summons for the
city to surrender ; but the Germans defying him, he
instantly commenced the siege. It has before been
observed, that the religion of Mahomet promises to
all soldiers who die in battle, whatever be their
crimes, immediate admission to the joys of paradise.
Hence arises that furv and temerity which they usu
18*

210 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ally display in fighting. They began with a most
tremendous cannonade, and made many attempts to
take the city by assault. But the steady valour of the.
Germans was superior to the enthusiasm of their
enemies. Solyman, filled with indignation at this
unusual check to his fortune, determined to exert
every power to carry his project ; to this end he
planted his ordnance before the king's gate, and bat-
tered it with such violence, that a breach was soon
made ; whereupon the Turks, under cover, of the
smoke, poured in torrents into the city, and the sol-
diers began to give up all for lost. But the officers,
with admirable presence of mind, causing a great
shouting to be made in the city, as if fresh troops
had just arrived, their own soldiers were inspired
with fresh courage, while the Turks, being seized
with a panic, fled precipitously, and overthrew each
other, by which means the city was freed from des-
truction.

Victory of the Christians.

Grown more desperate by resistance, Solyman re-
solved upon another attempt, and this was by under-
mining the Corinthian gate. Accordingly he set his
Illyrians to work, who were expert at this mode of
warfare. They succeeded in coming under ground
to the foundations of the tower ; but being discover-
ed by the wary citizens, they, with amazing activity
and diligence, countermined them : and having pre-
pared a train of gunpowder, even to the trenches of
the enemy, they set fire to it, and by that means ren-
dered abortive their attempts, and blew up about
8,000 of them. Foiled in every attempt, the cour-
age of the Turkish chief degenerated into madness ;
he ordered his men to scale the walls, in which at-
tempt they were destroyed by thousands, their very
numbers serving to their own defeat, till at length
the valour of his troops relaxed ; and, dreading the
hardihood of their European adversaries, they began

PERSECUTIONS IN BARBARY. 211

to refuse obedience. Sickness also seized their camp,
and numbers perished from famine ; for the Germans,
by their vigilance, had found means to cut off their
supplies. Foiled in every attempt, Solyman, at length,
after having lost above S0,000 men, resolved to aban-
don his enterprise. He accordingly put this resolve
in execution, and sending his baggage before him,
proceeded homewards with the utmost expedition,
thus freeing Europe from the impending terror of
universal Mahometanism.

Persecutions in Georgia and Mingrelia.

The Georgians are Christians, and being remark-
able for their beauty, the Turks and Persians perse-
cute them by the most cruel method. Instead of
taking money for their taxes, they compel them to
deliver up their children, the females for concubines
in the seraglios, maids of honour to the Sultanas, &c,
or to be sold to merchants of different nations, who
proportion their price to the beauty of the devoted
fair. The boys are taken for mutes and eunuchs in
the seraglio, clerks in the offices of state, and soldiers
in the army.

Westward of Georgia is Mingrelia, a country like-
wise inhabited by Christians, who undergo the same
persecutions and rigours as the Georgians by the
Turks and Persians, their children being torn from
them, or they murdered for refusing to consent to the
sale.

Persecutions in the States of Barbary.
In no part of the globe are Christians so hated, or
treated with such severity, as at Algiers. The con-
duct of the Algerines towards them is marked with
perfidy and cruelty. By paying a most exorbitant
fine, some Christians are allowed the title-of Free
Christians ; these are permitted to dress in the fash-
ion of their respective countries, but the Christian
slaves are obliged to wear a coarse gray suit, and a
seaman's cap. ^

212 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The following are the various punishments exer-
cised towards them : 1. If they join any of the na-
tives in open rebellion, they are strangled with a
bow-string, or hanged on an iron hook. 2. If they
speak against Mahomet, they must become Mahom-
etans, or be impaled alive. 3. If they profess Chris-
tianity again, after having changed to the Mahomet-
an persuasion, they are roasted alive, or thrown from
the city walls, and caught upon large sharp hooks,
on which they hang till they expire. 4. If they kill
a Turk they are burnt. 5. If they attempt to escape,
and are retaken, they suffer death in the following
manner : they are hung naked on a high gallows by
two hooks, the one fastened quite through the palm
of one hand, and the other through the sole of the
opposite foot, where they are left till death relieves
them. Other punishments for crimes committed by
Christians are left to the discretion of the judges, who
usually decree the most barbarous tortures.

'At Tunis, if a Christian is caught in attempting to
escape, his limbs are all broken ; and if he slay his
master, he is fastened to the tail of a horse, and drag-
ged about the streets till he expires.

Fez and Morocco conjointly form an empire, and
are the most considerable of the Barbary states. The
Christian slaves are treated with the greatest rigour ;
the rich have exorbitant ransoms fixed upon them ;
the poor are hard worked and half starved, and some-
times, by the emperor or their brutal masters, they
are murdered.

SECTION II.

PERSECUTIONS IN CALABRIA.

About the fourth century, a great many Walden
ses of Pragela and Dauphiny emigrated to Calabria,
where, having received permission to settle in some
waste lands, they soon, by the most industrious cul-

PERSECUTIONS IN CALABRIA. 213

ligation, converted those wild and barren spots into
regions of beauty and fertility.

The nobles of Calabria were highly pleased with
their new subjects and tenants, rinding them honest,
quiet, and industrious ; but the priests, filled with
jealousy, soon exhibited complaints against them,
charging them with not being Roman Catholics, not
making any of their boys priests, nor making any of
their girls nuns, not going to mass, not giving wax
tapers to their priests as offerings, not going on pil-
grimages, and not bowing to images.

To these the Calabrian lords replied, that these
people were extremely harmless, giving no offence to
the Roman Catholics, but cheerfully paying the tithes
to the priests, whose revenues were considerably in-
creased by their coming into the country, and who,
consequently, ought to be the last persons to make a
complaint.

Those enemies to truth being thus silenced, things
went on in peace for a few years, during which the
Waldenses formed themselves into two corporate
towns, annexing several villages to their jurisdic-
tion.

At length they sent to Geneva for two clergymen,
one to preach in each town. This being known, in-
telligence was conveyed to Pope Pius the Fourth,
who determined to exterminate them from Calabria
without further delay. To this end cardinal Alexan-
drino, a man of violent temper, and a furious bigot,
was sent together with two monks to Calabria, where
they were to act as inquisitors. These authorized
persons came to St. Xist, one of the towns built by
the Waldenses, where, having assembled the people,
they told them that they should receive no injury if
they would accept of preachers appointed by the
pope ; but if they refused, they should be deprived
both of their properties and lives ; and that to prove
them, mass should be publicly said that afternoon, at
which they must attend.

214 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

But the people of St. Xist, instead of observing this,
fled with their families into the woods, and thus dis-
appointed the cardinal and his coadjutors. Then
they proceeded to La Garde, the other town belong-
ing to the Waldenses, where, to avoid the like disap-
pointment, they ordered the gates to be locked, and
ah avenues guarded. The same proposals were then
made to the inhabitants as had been made to those
of St. Xist, but with this artifice : the cardinal as-
sured them that the inhabitants of St. Xist had im-
mediately come into his proposals, and agreed that
the pope should appoint them preachers. This false-
hood succeeded ; for the people of La Garde, think-
ing what the cardinal had told them to be fruth, said,
they would exactly follow the example of their breth-
ren of St. Xist.

Having thus gained his point by a lie, he sent for
two troops of soldiers, with a view to massacre the
people of St. Xist. He accordingly commanded them
into the woods, to hunt them down like wild beasts,
and gave them strict orders to spare neither age nor
sex, but to kill all they came near. The troops ac-
cordingly entered the woods, and many fell a prey to
their ferocity, before the Waldenses were apprized of
their design. At length, however, they determined
to sell their lives as dearly as possible, when several
conflicts happened, in which the half-armed Walden-
ses performed prodigies of valour, and many were
slain on both sides. At length, the greater part of
the troops being killed in the different rencounters,
the remainder were compelled to retreat ; which so
enraged the cardinal, that he wrote to the viceroy of
Naples for reinforcements.

The viceroy, in obedience to this, proclaimed
throughout the Neapolitan territories, that all out-
laws, deserters, and other proscribed persons, should
be freely pardoned for their several offences, on con-
dition of making a campaign against the inhabitants
of St. Xist, and of continuing under arms till those

PERSECUTIONS IN CALABRIA. 215

people were destroyed. On this several persons of
desperate fortune came in, and being formed into
light companies, were sent to scour the woods, and
put to death all they could meet with of the reform
ed religion. The viceroy himself also joined the car
dinal, at the head of a body of regular forces ) and,
in conjunction, they strove to accomplish their bloody
purpose. Some they caught, and suspending them
upon trees, cut down boughs and burnt them, or rip-
ped them open and left their bodies to be devoured
by wild beasts or birds of prey. Many they shot at
a distance ; but the greatest number they hunted
down by way of sport. A few escaped into caves ;
but famine destroyed them in their retreat; and the
inhuman chase was continued till all these poor peo-
ple perished.

The inhabitants of St. Xist being exterminated,
those of La Garde en^a^ed the attention of the car-
dinal and viceroy. The fullest protection was offer-
ed to themselves, their families, and their children, if
they would embrace the Roman Catholic persua-
sion ; but, on the contrary, if they refused this mer-
cy, as it was insolently termed, the most cruel deaths
would be the certain consequence. In spite of the
promises on one side, and menaces on the other, the
Waldenses unanimously refused to renounce their re-
ligion, or embrace the errors of popery. The cardi-
nal and viceroy were so enraged at this, that they or-
dered thirty of them to be put immediately to the rack,
as a terror to the others. Several of these died under
the torture : one Charlin, in particular, was so cruelly
used that his belly burst, his bowels came out, and
he expired in the greatest agonies. These barbari-
ties, however, did not answer the end for which they
were intended ; for those who survived the torments
of the rack, and those who. had not felt it, remained
equally constant in their faith, and boldly declared,
that nothing, either of pain or fear, should induce
them to renounce their God, or bow down to idols.

216 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The inhuman cardinal then ordered several of them
to be stripped naked, and whipped to death with
iron rods : some were hacked to pieces with large
knives ; others were thrown from the top of a high
tower ; and many were cased over with pitch and
burnt alive.

One of the monks who attended the cardinal, dis-
covered a most inhuman and diabolical nature. He
requested that he might shed some of the blood of
these poor people with his own hands ; his request
being granted, the monster took a large sharp knife,
and cut the. throats of four score men, women, and
children. Their bodies were then quartered, the
quarters placed upon stakes, and fixed in different
parts of the country.

The four principal men of La Garde were hanged,
and the clergyman was thrown from the top of his
church steeple. He was dreadfully crushed, but not
quite killed by the fall. The viceroy being present,
said, " Is the dog yet living? Take him up, and cast
him to the hogs ;" which brutal sentence was actual-
ly put in execution.

The monsters, in their hellish thirst of cruelty,
racked sixty of the women with such severity, that the
cords pierced their limbs quite to the bone. They
were after this remanded to prison, where their
wounds mortified, and they died in the most misera-
ble manner. Many others were put to death by va-
rious means ; and so jealous and arbitrary were those
monsters, that if any Roman Catholics, more com-
passionate than the rest, interceded for any of the re-
formed, he was immediately apprehended, and sacri-
ficed as a favourer of heretics.

The viceroy being obliged to return to Naples, and
the cardinal having been recalled to Rome, the Mar-
quis of Butiane was commissioned to complete what
they had begun ; which he at length effected by act-
ing with such barbarous rigour, that there was not a
single person of the reformed religion left in all Cala-

Persecutions in the Valley of Piedmont. — Page '217.

Butchery of Seventy Protestants.— Page 229.

*%

PERSECUTIONS OP THE WALDENSES. 217

bria. Thus were a great number of inoffensive and
harmless people deprived of their possessions, robbed
of their property, driven from their homes, and at
length murdered, only because they would not sacri-
fice their consciences to the superstitions of others,
embrace doctrines which they abhorred, and attend
to teachers whom they could not believe.

SECTION III.

PERSECUTIONS IN THE VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT.

The Waldenses, in consequence of the continued
persecutions they met with in France, fled for refuge
to various parts of the world ; among other places,
many of them sought an asylum in the valleys of
Piedmont, where they increased and flourished ex-
ceedingly for a considerable time.

Notwithstanding their harmless behaviour, inoffen-
sive conversation, and their paying tithes to the Ro-
mish clergy, the latter could not be contented, but
sought to give them disturbance, and accordingly
complained to the archbishop of Turin, that the Wal-
denses were heretics ; upon which, he ordered a per-
secution to be commenced, in consequence of which
many fell martyrs to the superstitious rage of the
monks and priests.

At Turin, one of the reformed had his bowels torn
out and put in a basin before his face, where they
remained^ in his view till he expired. At Revel,
Catelin^Biirard, being at the stake, desired the execu-
tioner to give him up a stone, which he refused,
thinking that he meant to throw it at somebody ; but
Girard assuring him that he had no such design, the
executioner complied ; when Girard, looking ear-
nestly at the stone, said, " When it is in the power
of a man to eat and digest this stone, the religion for
which I am about to suffer shall have an end, and

J9

218 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

not before." He then threw the stone on the ground,
and submitted cheerfully to the flames. A great ma-
ny more were oppressed, or put to death, till, wea-
ried with their sufferings, the Waldenses flew .to arms
in their defence, and formed themselves into regular
bodies. 'Pull of revenge at this, the archbishop of
Turin sent troops against them ; but in most of the
skirmishes the Waldenses were victorious ; for they
knew, if they were taken, they should not be consi-
dered as prisoners of war, but be tortured to death as
heretics.

Noble conduct of the Duke of Savoy.

Philip the Seventh, who was at this time Duke of
Savoy, and supreme lord of Piedmont, determined to
interpose his authority, and stop these bloody wars,
which so disturbed his dominions. Nevertheless, un-
willing to oifend the pope, or the archbishop of Turin,
he sent them both messages, importing, that he could
not any longer tamely see his dominions over-run
with troops, who were commanded by prelates in the
place of generals ; nor would he suffer his country to
be depopulated, while he himself had not been even
consulted upon the occasion.

The priests, perceiving the determination of the
Duke, had recourse to the usual artifice, and endea-
voured to prejudice his mind against the Waldenses;
but he told them, that although he was unacquainted
with the religious tenets of these people, yet he had
always found them quiet, faithful, and obedient, and
was therefore determined they should be persecuted
no longer. The priests then vented the most palpa-
ble and absurd falsehoods : they assured the Duke
that he was mistaken in the Waldenses, for they were
a wicked set of people, and highly addicted to intem-»
perance, uncleanness, blasphemy, adultery, incest,
and many other abominable crimes ; and that they
were even monsters in nature, for their children were
born with black throats, with four rows of teeth.

PERSECUTIONS OP THE WALDENSES. 219

and bodies covered with hair. But the duke was not
so to be imposed upon, notwithstanding the solemn
affirmations of the priests. In order to come at the
truth, he sent twelve gentlemen into the Piedmon-
tese valleys, to examine into the real character of the
people.

These gentlemen, after travelling through all the
towns and villages, and conversing with the Wal-
denses of every rank, returned to the duke, and gave
him the most favourable account of them ; affirming,
in contradiction to the priests, that they were harm-
less, inoffensive, loyal, friendly, industrious, and pi-
ous ; that they abhorred the crimes of which they
were accused ; and that, should an individual, through
his depravity, fall into any of those crimes, lie would,
by their laws, be punished in the most exemplary
manner. With respect to the children, of whom the
priest had told the most gross and ridiculous false-
hoods, they were neither born with black throats,
teeth in their mouth, nor hair on their bodies, but
were as fine children as could be seen. " And to
convince your highness of what we have said," con-
tinued one of the gentlemen, " we have brought
twelve of the principal male inhabitants, who are
come to ask pardon in the name of the rest, for hav-
ing taken up arms without your leave, though even
in their own defence, and to preserve their lives from
their merciless enemies. We have likewise brought
several women, with children of various ages, that
your highness may have an opportunity of judging
for yourself." His highness then accepted the apo-
logy of the twelve delegates, conversed with the wo-
men, examined the children, and afterwards gracious-
ly dismissed them. He then commanded the priests,
who had attempted to mislead him, immediately to
leave the court ; and gave strict orders, that the per-
secution should cease throughout his dominions.

During the remainder of the reign of this virtuous
prince, the Waldenses enjoved repose in their re-

220 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

treats ; but, on his death, this happy scene changed,
for his successor was a bigoted papist. About the
same time, some of the principal Waldenses proposed
that their clergy should preach in public, that every
one might know the purity of their doctrines; for
hitherto they had preached only in private, and to
such congregations as they well knew to consist of
none but persons of the reformed religion.

When this reached the ears of the new duke, he
was greatly exasperated, and sent a considerable bo-
dy of troops into the valleys, swearing that if the peo-
ple would not conform to the Romish faith, he would
have them flayed alive. The commander of the
troops soon found the impracticability of conquering
them with the number of men then under him : he,
therefore, sent word to the duke, that the idea of sub-
jugating the Waldenses with so small a force was
ridiculous ; that they were better acquainted with the
country than any that were with him ; that they had
secured all the passes, were well armed, and deter-
mined to defend themselves. Alarmed at this, the
duke commanded his troops to return, determining
to act by stratagem. He, therefore, ordered rewards
for taking any of the Waldenses, who might b3 found
straying from their places of security ; and these,
when taken, were either flayed alive or burnt.

Pope Paul the Third, a furious bigot, ascending
the pontifical chair, immediately solicited the parlia-
ment of Turin to persecute the Waldenses, as the
most pernicious of all heretics. To this the parlia-
ment readily assented, when several were suddenly
seized and burnt by their order. Among these was
Bartholomew Hector, a bookseller of Turin. He
had been brought up a Roman Catholic, but some
treatises written by the reformed clergy having fallen
into his hands, he was fully convinced of their truth,
and of the errors of the church of Rome ; yet his
mind was, for some time, wavering between fear and
duty, when, after serious consideration; he fully em-

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES. 221

braced the reformed religion, and was apprehended,
as we have already mentioned, and burnt.

A consultation was again held by the parliament of
Turin, in which it was agreed, that deputies should
be sent to the valleys of Piedmont with the follow-
ing propositions : 1. That if the Waldenses would
return to the bosom of the church of Rome, they
should enjoy their houses, properties, and lands, and
live with their families, without the least molestation.
2. That to prove their obedience, they should send
twelve of their principal. persons, with all their mi-
nisters and schoolmasters, to Turin, to be dealt with
at discretion. 3, That the pope, the king of France,
and the duke of Savoy, approved of and authorized
the proceedings of the parliament of Turin, upon this
occasion. 4. That if the Waldenses of Piedmont re-
jected these propositions, persecution and death should
be their reward.

In answer to these hostile articles, the Waldenses
made the following noble replies : 1. That no con-
sideration whatever should make them renounce their
religion. 2. That they would never consent to in-
trust their best friends to the custody and discretion
of their worst enemies. 3. That they valued the ap-
probation of the King of kings, who reigns in hea-
ven, more than any temporal authority. 4. That their
souls were more precious than their bodies.

As may be conjectured, these spirited and pointed
answers greatly exasperated the parliament of Tu-
rin : in consequence of which they continued, with
more avidity than ever, to seize such Waldenses as 4 .
unfortunately had strayed from their hiding-places,
and put them to the most cruel deaths.

They soon after solicited from the king of France
a considerable body of troops, in order to extermi-
nate the reformed from Piedmont ; but just as the
troops were about to march, the protestant princes
of Germany interposed, and threatened to send troops
to assist the Waldenses. On this, the king of France
19*

222 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

not wishing to enter into a war, remanded the troops.
This greatly disappointed the sanguinary members
of the parliament, and for want of power the perse-
cution gradually ceased, and they could only put to
death such as they caught by chance, which, owing
to the caution of the Waldenses, were very few.

After a few years tranquillity, they were again dis-
turbed in the following manner : The pope's nuncio,
coming to Turin, told the duke he was astonished
that he had not yet either rooted out the Waldenses
from Piedmont entirely, or compelled them to return
to the church of Rome. That such conduct in him
awakened suspicion, and that he really thought him
a favourer of those heretics, and should accordingly
report the affair to the pope. Roused by this reflec-
tion, and fearful of being misrepresented to the pope,
the duke determined to banish those suspicions ; and,
to prove his zeal, resolved to persecute the unoffend-
ing Waldenses. He, accordingly, issued express or-
ders for all to attend mass regularly, on pain of death.
This they absolutely refused to do ; on which he en-
tered Piedmont with a great body of troops, and be-
gan a most furious persecution, in which great num-
bers were hanged, drowned, ripped open, tied to
trees, pierced with prongs, thrown from precipices,
burnt, stabbed, racked to death, worried by dogs, and
crucified with their heads downwards. Those who
fled had their goods plundered and their houses burnt.
When they caught a minister or a schoolmaster, they
put him to such exquisite tortures as are scarcely
credible. If any whom they took seemed wavering
in their faith, they did not put them to death, but
sent them to the galleys, to be made converts by dint
of hardships.

In this expedition the duke was accompanied by
three men who resembled devils, viz. : 1. Thomas
Incomel, an apostate, brought up in the reformed re-
ligion, but who had renounced his faith, embraced
the errors of popery, and turned monk. He was a

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDEXSKS. 223

great libertine, given to unnatural crimes, and most
particularly solicitous for the plunder of the "Wal-
denses. 2. Corbis, a man of a very ferocious and
cruel nature, whose business was to examine the pri-
soners. 3. The provost of justice, an avaricious
wretch, anxious for the execution of the Waldenses,
as every execution added to his hoards.

These three monsters were unmerciful to the last
degree ; wherever they came, the blood of the inno-
cent was shed. But, besides the cruelties exercised
by the duke with these three persons and the army
in their different marches, many local barbarities
took place. At Pignerol was a monastery, the monks
of which rinding they might injure the reformed with
impunity, began to plunder their houses, and pull
down their churches ; and not meeting with opposi-
tion, they next seized upon the persons of those un-
happy people, murdering the men, confining the wo-
men, and putting the children to Roman Catholic
nurses.

In the same manner the Roman Catholic inhabi-
tants of the valley of St. Martin did all they could to
torment the neighbouring Waldenses ; they destroy-
ed their churches, burnt their houses, seized their
property, carried away their cattle, converted their
lands to their own use, committed their ministers to
the flames, and* drove the people to the woods, where
they had nothino- to subsist on but wild fruits, the
bark of trees, roots, &c. &c.

Some Roman Catholic ruffians having seized a mi-
nister, as he was going to preach, determined to take
him to a convenient place, and burn him. His pa-
rishioners hearing of this, armed themselves, pursued
and attacked the villains ; who, finding they could
not execute their first intent, stabbed the poor gen-
tleman, and, leaving him weltering in his blood, made
a precipitate retreat. His parishioners did all they
could to recover him, but in vain ; for he expired as
they were carrying him home.

224 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The monks of Pignerol, having a great desire to
get into their possession a minister of the town of St.
Germain, hired a band of ruffians for the purpose of
seizing him. These fellows were conducted by a
treacherous servant to the clergyman, who knew a
secret way to the house, by which he could lead them
without alarming the neighbourhood. The guide
knocked at the door, and being- asked who was there,
answered in his own name. The clergyman, expect-
ing no injury from a person on whom he had heaped
favours, immediately opened the door; perceiving the
ruffians, he fled, but they rushed in and seized him.
They then murdered all his family ; after which they
proceeded with their captive towards Pignerol, goad-
ing him all the way. He was confined a considerable
time in prison, and then burnt.

The murderers continuing their assaults about the
town of St. Germain, murdering and plundering ma-
ny of the inhabitants, the reformed of Lucerne and
Angrogne sent some armed men to the assistance of
their brethren. These men frequently attacked and
routed the ruffians, which so alarmed the monks, that
they left their monastery of Pignerol, till they could
procure regular troops for their protection.

The duke of Savoy, not finding himself so success-
ful as he at first imagined he should be, augmented
his forces, joined to them the ruffians, and command-
ed that a general delivery should take place in the
prisons, provided the persons released would bear
arms, and assist in the extermination of the Walden-
ses.

No sooner were the Waldenses informed of these
proceedings than they secured as much of their pro-
perty as they could, and, quitting the valleys, retired
to the rocks and caves among the Alps.

The army no sooner reached their destination than
they began to plunder and burn the towns and villa-
ges ; but they could not force the passes of the Alps,
gallantly defended by the Wajdenses, who in those

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES. 225

attempts always repulsed their enemies ; but if any
fell into the hands of the troops, they were treated in
the most barbarous manner. A soldier having caught
one of them, bit his right ear off, saying, u I will car-
ry this member of that wicked heretic with me into
my own country, and preserve it as a rarity." He
then stabbed the man, and threw him into a ditch.

At one time, a party of troops found a venerable
man upwards of a hundred years of age, accompa-
nied by his grand-daughter, a maiden of about eight-
een, in a cave. They murdered the poor old man
in the most inhuman manner, and then attempted to
ravish the girl, when she started away, and being
pursued, threw herself from a precipice and was
dashed to pieces.

Determined, if possible, to expel their invaders, the
Waldenses entered into a league with the protestant
powers of Germany, and with the reformed of Dau-
phiny and Pragela. These were respectively to fur-
nish bodies of troops ; and the AValdenses resolved,
when thus reinforced, to quit the mountains of the
Alps, where they soon must have perished, as the
winter was coming on, and to force the duke's army
to evacuate their native valleys.

But the Duke of Savoy himself was tired of the
war, it having cost him great fatigue and anxiety of
mind, a vast number of men, and very considerable
sums of money. It had been much more tedious and
bloody than he expected, as well as more expensive
than he at first imagined, for he thought the plunder
would have discharged the expenses of the expedi-
tion : in this, however, he was mistaken ; for the
pope's nuncio, the bishops, monks, and other eccle-
siastics, who attended the army and encouraged the
war, sunk the greatest part of the wealth that was
taken, under various pretences. For these reasons,
and the death of his duchess, of which he had just
received intelligence, and fearing that the Waldenses,
by the treaties they had entered into, would be-

226 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

come too powerful for him, he determined to return
to Turin with his army, and to make peace with
them.

This resolution he put in practice, greatly against
the wish of the ecclesiastics, who by the war gratified
both their avarice and revenge. Before the articles
of peace could be ratified, the duke himself died; but
on his death-bed he strictly enjoined his son to per-
form what he had intended, and to be as favourable
as possible" to the Waldenses.

Charles-Emanuel, the Duke's son, succeeded to the
dominions of Savoy, and fully ratified the peace with
the Waldenses, according to the last injunctions of
his father, though the priests used all their arts to dis-
suade him from his purpose.

SECTION IV.

PERSECUTIONS IN VENICE.

Before the terrors of the inquisition were known
at Venice, a great number of protestants fixed their
residence there, and many converts were made by
the purity of their doctrines, and the inofTensiveness
of their conversation.

The pope no sooner learned the great increase of
protestantism, than he, in the year 1542, sent inquis-
itors to Venice, to apprehend such as they might
deem obnoxious. Hence a severe persecution be-
gan, and many persons were martyred for serving
God with sincerity, and scorning the trappings of su-
perstition.

Various were the modes by which the protestants
were deprived of life ; but one in particular, being
both new and singular, we shall describe: as soon as
sentence was passed, the prisoner had an iron chain,
to which was suspended a great stone, fastened to
his body ; he was then laid flat upon a plank, with
his face upwards, and rowed between two boats to a

PERSECUTIONS IN ITALY. 227

certain distance at sea, when the boats separated,
and, by the weight of the stone, he was sunk to the
bottom.

If any dared to deny the jurisdiction of the in-
quisitors at Venice, they were conveyed to Roii.e,
where, being committed to damp and nauseous dun-
geons, their flesh mortified, and a most miserable
death ensued.

SECTION V.

MARTYRDOMS IN VARIOUS FARTS OF ITALY.

John Mollius was born at Rome of a respectable
family. At twelve years old his parents placed him
in a monastery of gray friars, where he made so rap-
id a progress in his studies, that he was admitted to
priest's orders at the early age of eighteen years.
He was then sent to Ferrara, where, after six years
further study, he was appointed theological reader
in the university of that city. Here he began to ex-
ercise his great talents to disguise the gospel truths,
and to varnish over the errors of the church of Rome.
Having passed some years here, he removed to the
university of Bononia, where he became a professor.
At length, happily reading some treatises written by
ministers of the reformed religion, he was suddenly
struck with the errors of popery, and became in his
heart a zealous protestant. He now determined to
expound, in truth and simplicity, St. Paul's epistle
to the Romans, in a regular course of sermons; at
each of which he was attended by a vast concourse
of people. But when the priests learned his doc-
trines, they despatched an account thereof to Rome;
upon which the pope sent Cornelius, a monk, to Bo-
nonia, to expound the same epistle, according to his
own tenets, and to controvert the doctrine of Mollius.
The people, however, found such a disparity between
the two preachers, that the audience of Mollius in-

228 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

creased, while Cornelius preached to empty benches.
The latter on this wrote of his bad success to the
pope, who immediately ordered Mollius to be appre-
hended. He was seized accordingly, and kept in
close confinement. The bishop of Bononia sent him
word that he must recant or be burnt ; but he ap-
pealed to Rome, and was in consequence removed
thither. Here he begged to have a public trial ; but
this the pope absolutely denied him, and commanded
him to explain his opinions in writing, which accord-
ingly he did on scripture authority. The pope, for
reasons of policy, spared him for the present ; but in
the year 1553, had him hanged, and his body after-
wards burnt to ashes.

Francis Gamba, a Lombard and a protestant, was
apprehended, and condemned to death by the senate
of Milan, in the year 1554. At the place of execu-
tion he was presented by a monk with a cross. " My
mind," said Gamba, " is so full of the real merits
and goodness of Christ, that I want not a piece of
senseless stick to put me in mind of him." For this
expression his tongue was bored through, after which
he was committed to the flames.

About the same period. Algerius, a learned and ac-
complished student in the university of Padua, em-
braced the reformed religion, and was zealous in the
conversion of others. For these proceedings he was
accused of heresy to the pope, and being apprehend-
ed, was committed to prison at Venice, whence he
wrote to his converts at Padua the following celebra-
ted and beautiful epistle.

" Dear Friends,

"I cannot omit this opportunity of letting you
know the sincere pleasure I feel in my confinement ;
to suffer for Christ is delectable indeed ; to undergo
a little transitory pain in this world, for his sake, is
cheaply purchasing a reversion of eternal glory, in a
life that is everlasting. Hence I have found honey-
in the entrails of a lion ; a paradise in a prison ;

PERSECUTIONS IN ITALY. 229

tranquillity in the house of sorrow ; where others
weep, I rejoice ; where others tremble and faint, I
find strength and courage. The Almighty alone
confers these favours on me ; be his the glory and
the praise.

" How diiferent do I find myself from what I was
before I embraced the truth in its purity ! I was then
dark, doubtful, and in dread ; I am now enlightened,
certain, and full of joy. He that was far from me is
present with me ; he comforts my spirit, heals my
grief, strengthens my mind, refreshes my heart, and
fortifies my soul. Learn, therefore, how merciful
and amiable the Lord is, who supports his servants
under temptations, expels their sorrows, lightens their
afflictions, and even visits them with his glorious
presence in the gloom of a dismal dungeon.
" Your sincere friend,

" Algerius."

The pope being informed of Algerius's great learn-
ing and abilities, sent for him to Rome, and tried, by
every means, to win him to his purpose. But find-
ing his endeavours hopeless, he ordered him to be
burnt.

In 1559, John Alloisius, a protestant teacher, hav-
ing come from Geneva to preach in Calabria, was
there apprehended, carried to Rome, and burnt, by
order of the pope ; and at Messina, James Bovellus
was burnt for the same offence.

In the year 1560, Pope Pius the Fourth commenced
a general persecution of the protestants throughout
the Italian states, when great numbers of every age,
sex, and condition, suffered martyrdom. Concerning
the cruelties practised upon this occasion, a learned
and humane Roman Catholic thus speaks in a letter
Xo a nobleman :

" I cannot, my lord, forbear disclosing my senti-
ments with respect to the persecution now carrying
on. I think it cruel and unnecessary ; I tremble At

20

230 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

the manner of putting to death, as it resembles more
the slaughter of calves and sheep, than the execu-
tion of human beings. I will relate to your lordship
a dreadful scene, of which I was myself an eye-wit-
ness : seventy protestants were cooped up in one
filthy dungeon together; the executioner went in
among them, picked out one from among the rest,
blindfolded him, led him out to an open place before
the prison, and cut his throat with the greatest com-
posure. He then calmly walked into the prison
again, bloody as he was, and with the knife in his
hand selected another, and despatched him in the
same manner ; and this, my lord, he repeated, till
the whole number were put to death. I leave it to
your lordship's feelings to judge of my sensations
upon the occasion ; my tears now wash the paper
upon which I give you the recital. Another thing I
must mention, the patience with which they met
death : they seemed all resignation and piety, fer-
vently praying to God, and cheerfully encountering
their fate. I cannot reflect without shuddering, how
the executioner held the bloody knife between his
teeth ; what a dreadful figure he appeared, all cover-
ed with blood, and with what unconcern he executed
his barbarous office !"

SECTION VI.

PERSECUTIONS IN THE MARQ,UISATE OF SALXJCES.

The marquisate of Saluces, or Saluzzo, is situated
on the south side of the valleys of Piedmont, and in
the year 1561 was principally inhabited by protest-
ants ; when the marquis began a persecution against
them, at the instigation of the pope. He commenced
by banishing the ministers ; if any of whom refused
to leave their flocks, they were imprisoned and se-
verely tortured: he did not, however, put any to
death

PERSECUTIONS IN SALUCES. 231

A little time after, the marquisate fell into the pos-
session of the duke of Savoy, who sent circular let-
ters to all the towns and villages, that he expected
the people should all go to mass. Upon this the in-
habitants of Saluces returned a submissive yet manly
answer, entreating permission to continue in the
practice of the religion of their forefathers.

This letter for a time seemed to pacify the duke,
but, at length, he sent them word that they must
either conform to his former commands, or leave his
dominions in fifteen days. The protestants, upon this
unexpected edict, sent a deputy to the duke to obtain
his revocation, or at least to have it moderated.
Their petitions, however, were vain, and they were
given to understand that the edict was peremptory.

Some, under the impulse of fear, or worldly inter-
est, were weak enough to go to mass, in order to
avoid banishment, and preserve their property ; others
removed, with all their effects, to different countries ;
many neglected the time so long, that they were
obliged to abandon all they were worth, and leave
the marquisate in haste ; while some, who unhappily
staid behind, were seized, plundered, and put to
death.

SECTION VII.

PERSECUTIONS IN PIEDMONT IN THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY.

Pope Clement the Eighth sent missionaries into
the valleys of Piedmont, with a view to induce the
protestants to renounce their religion. These mis-
sionaries erected monasteries in several parts of the
valleys, and soon became very troublesome to the
reformed, to whom the monasteries appeared not
only as fortresses to curb, but as sanctuaries for all
such to fly to as had injured them in any degree.

232 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

The insolence and tyranny of these missionaries
increasing, the protestants petitioned the duke of
Savoy for protection. But instead of granting any
redress, the duke published a decree, in which he
declared that one witness should be sufficient in a
court of law against a protestant ; and that any wit-
ness who convicted a protestant of any crime what-
ever, should be entitled to a hundred crowns as a re-
ward.

In consequence of this, as may be imagined, many
protestants fell martjTS to the perjury and avarice of
the papists, who would swear any thing against them
for the sake of the reward, and then fly to their own
priests for absolution from their false oaths.

These missionaries endeavoured to get the books
of the protestants into their power, in order to burn
them ; and on the owners concealing them, wrote to
the duke of Savoy, who, for the heinous crime of not
surrendering their Bibles, prayer-books, and religious
treatises, sent a number of troops to be quartered on
them, which occasioned the ruin of many families.

To encourage as much as possible the apostacy of
the protestants, the duke published a proclama-
tion, granting an exemption for five years from all
taxes to every protestant who should become a cath-
olic. He likewise established a court called the
council for extirpating the heretics ; the object and
nature of which are sufficiently evident from its name.

After this the duke published several edicts, pro-
hibiting the protestants from acting as schoolmasters
or tutors ; from teaching any art, science, or lan-
guage ; from holding any places of profit, trust, or
honour ; and finally, commanding them to attend
mass. This last was a signal for a persecution, which
of course soon followed. ~

Before the persecution commenced, the missiona-
ries employed kidnappers to steal away the children
of the protestants, that they might privately be
brought up Roman Catholics; hut now they took

PERSECUTIONS IN PIEDMONT. 233

away the children by open force, and if the wretched
parents resisted, they were immediately murdered.

The duke of Savoy, in order to give force to the
persecution, called a general assembly of the Roman
Catholic nobility and gentry, whence issued a solemn
edict against the reformed, containing many heads,
and including several reasons for extirpating them,
among which the following were the principal : the
preservation of the papal authority ; that the church
livings might be all under one mode of government. ;
to make a union among all parties ; in honour of all
the saints and of the ceremonies of the church of
Rome,

This was followed by a most cruel order, publish-
ed on January 25, 1655, which decreed that every
family of the reformed religion, of whatever rank
residing in Lucerne, St. Giovanni, Bibiana, Campig
hone, St. Secondo, Lucernetta, La Torre, Fenile, or
Bricherassio, should, within three days after the pub-
lication thereof, depart from their habitations to such
places as were appointed by the duke, on pain of
.death and confiscation.

This order produced the greatest distress among
the unhappy objects of it, as it was enforced with the
greatest severity, in the depth of a very severe win-
ter, and the people were driven from their habita-
tions at the time appointed, without even sufficient
clothes to cover them : by which many perished in
the mountains through the severity of the weather,
or for want of food. Those who remained behind
after the publication of the decree, were murdered
by the popish inhabitants, or shot by the troops, and
the most horrible barbarities were perpetrated by
these ruffians, encouraged by the Roman Catholic
priests and monks, of which the following may serve
as a specimen.

Martha Constantine, a beautiful young woman,
was first ravished, and then killed, by cutting off her
breasts. These some of the soldiers fried, and set

20*

234 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

before their comrades, who ate them without know-
ing what they were. When they had done eating,
the others told them what they had made a meal of,
in consequence of which, a quarrel ensued, and a bat-
tle took place. Several were killed in the fray, the
greater part of whom were those concerned in the
horrid massacre of the woman, and the inhuman de-
ception on their comrades.

Peter Simonds, a protestant, of about eighty years
of age, was tied neck and heels, and then thrown
down a precipice. In his fall the branch of a tree
caught hold of the ropes that fastened him, and sus-
pended him in the mid-way, so that he languished
for several days, till he perished of hunger.

Several men, women, and children, were flung from
the rocks ano! dashed to pieces. Among others, Mag-
dalen Bertino, a protestant woman of La Torre, was
stripped naked, her head tied between her legs, and
she was then thrown down a precipice. Mary Ray-
mondet, of the same town, had her flesh sliced from
her bones till she expired ; Magdalen Pilot, of Villa-
ro, was cut to pieces in the cave of Castolus ; Ann
Charboniere had one end of a stake thrust up her
body, and the other end being fixed in the ground,
she was left in that manner to perish ; and Jacob
Perrin the elder, of the church of Villaro, with Da-
vid, his brother, was flayed alive.

Giovanni Andrea Michialin, an inhabitant of La
Torre, with four of his children, was apprehended ;
three of them were hacked to pieces before him, the
soldiers asking him, at the death of every child, if he
would recant, which he constantly refused. One of
the soldiers then took up the last and youngest by the
legs, and putting the same question to the father, he
replied as before, when the inhuman brute dashed
out the child's brains. The father, however, at the
same moment started from them, and fled : the sol-
diers fired after him, but missed him ; and he escap-
ed to the Alps, and there remained concealed.

PERSECUTIONS IN PIEDMONT. 235

Giovanni Pelanchion, on refusing to abjure his
faith, was tied by one leg to the tail of a mule, and
dragged through the streets of Lucerne, amidst the
acclamations of an inhuman mob, who kept stoning
him, and crying out, "He is possessed of the devil."
They then took him to the river side, chopped off
his head, and left that and his body unburied, upon
the bank of the river.

A beautiful child, ten years of age, named Magda-
lene Fontaine, was ravished and murdered by the
soldiers. Another girl, of about the same age, they
roasted alive at Villa Nova ; and a poor woman, hear-
ing the soldiers were coming towards her house,
snatched up the cradle in which her infant son was
asleep, and fled towards the woods. The soldiers,
however, saw and pursued her, when she lightened
herself by putting down the cradle and child, which
the soldiers no sooner came to, than they murdered
the infant, and continuing the pursuit, found the mo-
ther in a cave, where they first ravished, and then
cut her to atoms.

Jacobo Michelino, chief elder of the church of
Bobbio, and several other protestants, were hung up
by hooks fixed in their flesh, and left so to expire.
Giovanni Rostagnal. a venerable protestant, upwards
of fourscore years of age, had his nose and ears cut
off, and the flesh cut from his body, till he bled to
death.

Jacob Birone, a schoolmaster of Rorata, was strip-
ped naked ; and after having been so exposed, had
the nails of his toes and fingers torn off with red-hot
pincers, and holes bored through his hands with the
point of a dagger. He next had a cord tied round
his middle, and was led through the streets with a
soldier on each side of him. At every turning the
soldier on his right-hand side cut a gash in his flesh,
and the soldier on his left-hand side struck him with
a bludgeon, both saying, at the same instant, " Will
you go to mass 'I Will you go to mass ?" He still

236 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

replied in the negative, and being at length taken to
the bridge, they cat off his head on the balustrades,
and threw both that and his body into the river.

Paul Gamier, a protestant beloved for his piety,
had his eyes put out, was then flayed alive, and be-
ing divided into four parts, his quarters were placed
on four of the principal houses of Lucerne. He
bore all his sufferings with the most exemplary pa-
tience, praised God as long as he could speak, and
plainly evinced the courage arising from a confidence
in God.

Some of the Irish troops having taken eleven men
of Garcigliana prisoners, they heated a furnace red-
hot, and forced them to push each other in till they
came to the last man, who they themselves push-
ed in.

Michael Gonet, a man about 90 years old, was
burnt to death ; Baptista Oudri, another old man,
was stabbed ; and Bartholomew Frasche had his
heels pierced, through which ropes being put, he was
dragged by them to the jail, where, in consequence
of his wounds mortifying, he soon died.

Many more suffered martyrdom in various ways,
which cannot here be noticed.

SECTION VIII.

PERSECUTIONS OF MICHAEL DE MOLINOS, A NATIVE
OF SPAIN.

Michael de Molinos, a Spaniard, of a rich and no-
ble family, entered at an early age into priest's or-
ders, but would accept of no preferment in the church.
His talents were of a superior class, and he dedicated
them to the service of his fellow-creatures. His life
was uniformly pious ; but he did not assume those
austerities so common among the religious orders of
the Romish church.

PERSECUTION OP THE QUIETISTS. 237

Being of a contemplative turn, he pursued the
track of the mystical divines, and having acquired
great reputation in Spain, he became desirous of pro-
pagating his mode of devotion, and, accordingly, left
his own country, and settled in Rome. Here he
soon connected himself with some of the most dis-
tinguished among the literati, who, approving of his
religious maxims, assisted him in propagating them.
His followers soon augmented to a considerable num-
ber, and, from the peculiarity of their doctrine, were
distinguished by the name of Quietists.

In 1675 he published a book, entitled, II Gitida
Spirititale, which soon became known, and was read
with great avidity, both in Italy and Spain. His fame
was now blazed abroad, and friends flowed in upon
him. Many letters were written to him, and a cor-
respondence was settled between him and those who
approved of his tenets, in different parts of Europe.
Some secular priests, both at Rome and Naples, de-
clared themselves openly in his favour, and consulted
.him as a sort of oracle : but those who attached them-
selves to him with the greatest sincerity, were- some
of the fathers of the Oratory, the most eminent of
whom were, Coloredi, Ciceri, and Petrucci. Many
of the cardinals also courted his friendship. Among
others was the cardinal d'Estrees, a man of great
learning, to whom Molinos opened his mind without
reserve.

His reputation now began to alarm the Jesuits and
Dominicans : they, therefore, exclaimed against him
and his followers as heretics,, and published several
treatises in defence of tl^eir charge, which Molinos
answered with becoming spirit.

These disputes occasioned such a disturbance in
Rome, that the affair was noticed by the inquisition.
Molinos and his book, and father Petrucci, who had
written some treatises and letters on the same sub-
ject, were brought under a severe examination; and
the Jesuits were considered as the accusers. In the

238 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

course of the examination, both Molinos and Petrucci
acquitted themselves so ably, that their books were
again approved, and the answers which the Jesuits
had written were censured as scandalous and unbe-
coming.

Petrucci, on this occasion, was so highly applaud-
ed, that he was soon after made bishop of Jesis.
Their books were now esteemed more than ever, and
their method was more followed.

Thus the great reputation acquired by Molinos and
Petrucci, occasioned a daily increase of the Q,uiet-
ists. All who were thought sincerely devout, or at
least affected to be so, were reckoned among the
number. These persons, in proportion as their zeal
increased in their mental devotions, appeared less
careful as to the exterior parts of the church cere-
monies. They were not so assiduous at masses, nor
so earnest to procure them to be said for their friends ;
nor were they so frequently either in processions or
at confession.

Notwithstanding the approbation expressed for
Molinos' book by the inquisition had checked the
open hostility of his enemies, they were still invete-
rate against him in their hearts, and determined, if
possible, to ruin him. They therefore secretly insi-
nuated^ that he had ill designs, and was an enemy to
Christianity : that, under pretence of raising men to
a sublime strain of devotion, he intended to erase
from their minds a sense of the mysteries of religion.
And because he was a Spaniard, they gave out that
he Avas a descendant from a Jewish or Mahometan
race, and that he might carry in his blood, or in his
first education, some seeds of those doctrines he had
since cultivated with no less art than zeal.

Molinos, finding himself attacked with such unre-
lenting malice, took every necessary precaution to
prevent its effect upon the public mind. He wrote a
treatise entitled "Frequent and Daily Communion, 3 '
which was likewise approved by some of the most

PERSECUTION OP THE QUIETISTS. 239

learned of the Romish clergy. This, with his Spi-
ritual Guide, was printed in the year 1675 ; and in
the preface to it he declared, that he had not written
it with any design to. engage in matters of controver
sy, but by the earnest solicitations of many pious
people.

The Jesuits having again failed in their attempts
to crush his influence at Rome, applied to the court
of France, when they so far succeeded, that an order
was sent to cardinal d'Estrees, commanding him to
prosecute Molinos with all possible rigour. The car
dinal, notwithstanding his attachment to Molinos, re
solved to sacrifice friendship to interest. Finding
however, there was not sufficient matter for an accu-
sation against him, he determined to supply that de-
fect himself. He therefore went to the inquisitors
and informed them of several particulars relative to
Molinos and Petrucci, both of whom, with several of
their friends, were put into the inquisition.

On being brought before the inquisitors, (which
was in the beginning of the year 16S4,) Petrucci an
swered the questions put to him with so much judg
ment and temper, that he was soon dismissed ; but
with regard to Molinos, though the inquisition had not
any just accusation against him, yet they strained
every nerve to find him guilty of heresy. They first
objected to his holding a correspondence in different
parts of Europe ; but of this he was acquitted, as the
matter of that correspondence could not be consider-
ed as criminal. They then directed their attention
to some suspicious papers found in his chamber ; but
he so clearly explained their meaning, that nothing
could be wrested from them to his prejudice. At
length, cardinal d'Estrees, after producing the order
sent him by the king of France for prosecuting Mo-
linos, said he could convince the court of his here-
sy. He then proceeded to pervert the meaning of
some passages in Molinos's books and papers, and
related many false and aggravating circumstances re-

240 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

lative to the prisoner. He acknowledged he had
lived with him under the appearance of friendship,
but that it was only to discover his principles and in-
tentions : that he found them to be of a bad nature,
and that dangerous consequences were likely to en-
sue : but in order to make a full discovery, he had
assented to several things, which, in his heart, he de-
tested ; and that, by these means, he became master
of all his secrets.

In consequence of this evidence, Molinos was
closely confined in the inquisition, where he contin-
ued for some time, during which period all was quiet,
and his followers continued their mode of worship
without interruption. But at the instigation of the
Jesuits, a storm suddenly broke out upon them with
the most inveterate fury.

Persecution of the Quietists.

Count Yespiniani and his lady, Don Paulo Rocchi,
and nearly seventy other persons, among whom ma-
ny were highly esteemed both for their learning and
piety, were put into the inquisition. The accusation
laid against the clergy was, their neglecting to say
.the breviary ; the rest were accused of going to com-
munion without first attending confession, and neg-
lecting all the exterior parts of religion.

The countess Yespiniani, on her examination be-
fore the inquisitors, said that she had never revealed
her method of devotion to any mortal but her con-
fessor, without whose treachery it was impossible
they should know it. That, therefore, it was time to
give over going to confession, if priests thus abused
it, betraying the most secret thoughts intrusted to
them ; and that, for the future, she would only make
her confession to God.

From that spirited speech, and the great noise
made in consequence of the countess's situation, the
inquisitors thought it most prudent to dismiss both
her and her husband, lest the people might be in-

VLRSECUTION OF THE GlUIETISTS. 24i

ceuscd, and what she said might lessen the credit of
confession. They were, therefore, both discharged ;
but bound to appear whenever they should be called
upon.

Such was the inveteracy of the Jesuits against the
Qiiietists, that within the space of a month upwards
of 200 persons, besides those already mentioned,
were put into the inquisition ; and that method of
devotion which had passed in Italy as the most ele-
vated to which mortals could aspire, was deemed he-
retical, and the chief promoters of it confined in
dungeons.

A circular letter, urging the extirpation of the
<Auietists, was sent by the inquisitors, through cardi-
nal Cibo, the pope's chief minister, to the Italian
bishops ; but without much effect, as the greater num-
ber of them were inclined to Molinos's method. It
was intended that this, as well as all other orders from
the inquisitors, should be kept secret; but notwith-
standing all their care, copies of it were printed, and
dispersed in most of the principal towns in Italy.
This gave great uneasiness to the inquisitors, who
vise every method they can to conceal their pro-
ceedings from the knowledge of the world. They
blamed the cardinal, and accused him of being the
cause of it : but he retorted on them, and his secre-
tary laid the fault on both.

Sentence against Molinos*
In the mean time, TMolinos suffered greatly from
the officers of the inquisition : and the only comfort
he received, was being sometimes visited by father
Petrucci. Yet although he had lived in the highest
reputation in Rome for some years, he was now as
much despised as he had been admired. Most of his
followers, who had been placed in the inquisition,
having abjured his mode, were dismissed ; but a hard-
er fate awaited their leader. Vv r hen he had lain a
considerable time in prison, he was brought again

21

242 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

before the inquisitors, to answer to a number of
articles exhibited against him from his writings.
As soon as he appeared in court, a chain was put
round his body, and a wax-light in his hand, when
two friars read aloud the articles of accusation. Mo-
linos answered each with great steadiness and reso-
lution ; and notwithstanding his arguments totally
defeated the force of all, yet he was found guilty of
heresy, and was condemned to imprisonment for life.

Having left the court, he was attended by a priest,
who had borne him the greatest respect. On his ar-
rival at the prison, he entered the cell with great tran-
quillity ; and on taking leave of the priest, thus ad-
dressed him : " Adieu, father ; we shall meet again
at the day of judgment, and then it will appear on
which side the truth is, whether on my side or on
yours."

While in confinement he was several times tortur-
ed in the most cruel manner, till, at length, the se-
verity of the punishments overpowered his strength,
and death released him from his cruel persecutors.

The followers of Molinos were so terrified by the
sufferings of their leader, that the greater part of them
soon abjured his mode ; and by the assiduity of the
Jesuits, Quietism was totally extirpated.

SECTION IX.

PERSECUTION OF THE PROTESTANTS IN FRANCE,
DURING THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES.

In our sixth chapter we gave a brief account of the
horrible massacre in France, in 1572, in the reign of
Charles IX., who has been well entitled "The
Bloody." This inhuman tyrant dying, was succeed-
ed in 1574 by Henry III., who, from political rather
than religious motives, favoured the protestants, which
so greatly displeased the catholics, that he felt him-
self obliged to recall the privileges which he had

PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. 243

granted them. Hence arose civil dissensions, which
nearly ruined the kingdom. In 15S9, Henry was as-
sassinated by one James Clement, a fanatical priest,
and was succeeded by the king of Navarre, under
the title of Henry IV.

This prince, after struggling with his numerous
enemies during several years, found it expedient to
daclare himself a Roman Catholic, and thus to ob-
tain the suffrages of the majority of his subjects. This
apostacy was a severe affliction to the faithful ; but,
although he abandoned his religion, and sacrificed a
heavenly for an earthly crown, he did not, like many
apostates, persecute the members of the church which
he had quitted. He was, in all other respects, truly
worthy of the appellation of Great ; a title so fre-
quently and so unjustly bestowed on men who sacri-
fice the lives and happiness of their fellow-creatures
at the shrine of their own vanity and cruelty, and de-
serve rather to be execrated than admired, and re-
garded as demons than as demigods.

Upon the restoration of tranquillity in his domin-
ions, Henry applied himself to the cultivation of the
arts of peace, and by encouraging agriculture, man-
ufactures, and trade, laboured successfully to recover
France from the desolation and misery which thirty
years of civil war and religious persecution had
brought upon her. Nor was he unmindful of his an-
cient friends the protestants. By the edict of Nantes,
issued in 1598, he granted them a full toleration and
protection in the exercise of their religious opinions.
In consequence of this, the true church of Christ
abode in peace during many years, and flourished
exceedingly.

Henry was at length assassinated, in 1610, by Ra-
vaillac, a Jesuit, filled with that frantic bigotry which
the Roman Catholic religion has so peculiar a ten-
dency to inspire and to cherish.

Louis XIII. being a minor at the death of his fa-
ther, the kingdom was nominally governed by the

244 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

queen mother, but really by her minion, cardinal
Richelieu, a man of great abilities, which were un-
happily perverted to the worst purposes. He was
cruel, bigoted, tyrannical, rapacious, and sensual ;
he trampled on the civil and religious liberties of
France ; and hesitated not to accomplish his inten-
tions by the most barbarous and infamous methods.

The protestants at length, unable longer to endure
the injuries daily heaped upon them, resolved to take
arms in defence of their religion and their liberty.
But the vigour of the cardinal defeated all their en-
terprises, and Rochelle, the last fortress which re-
mained in their possession, was, in 1628, after along
siege, in which the defenders were reduced to the
most horrible extremities of famine and suffering,
surrendered to his victorious arms. He immediately
caused the walls and fortifications to be destroyed ;
and those of the garrison who survived, were either
put to death by the infuriated soldiery, or condemn-
ed to the galleys for life.

After tin's unhappy event, although the power of
the protestants was too much broken to permit them
to assert their rights in the field, and they therefore
appeared to their enemies as if crushed and extin-
guished, there yet remained many thousands who "re-
fused to bow the knee to Baal ;" their God upheld
them by his gracious promises ; they knew that He,
without whose orders " not even a sparrow shall per-
ish," would not allow his faithful servants to fall un-
regarded ; and they consoled themselves with the re-
flection, that however they might be despised, con-
temned, and persecuted on earth, they would in the
end arrive at those heavenly mansions prepared for
them by their Father, where " all tears shall be wi-
ped from all faces ;" and where an eternity of glori-
ous and celestial happiness shall infinitely outweigh
the temporary and trivial sufferings of mortality.

During the fifty years which succeeded the reduc-
tion of Rochelle, the protestants suffered every in-

PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. 245

dignity, injustice, and cruelty, which their barbarous
persecutors could devise. They were at the mercy
of every petty despot, who, " dressed in a little brief
authority," wished to gratify his malice, or signalize
the season of his power, by punishing the heretics,
and evincing his attachment to the infallible church.
The consequences of this may easily be imagined ;
every petty vexation which can render private life
miserable, every species of plunder and extortion, and
every wanton exertion of arbitrary power, were em-
ployed to harass and molest the protestants of all
ranks, sexes, and ages.

At length, in 16S4, the impious and blasphemous
tyrant, Louis XI V., who, in imitation of the worst
Roman emperors, wished to receive divine honours,
and was flattered by his abject courtiers into the be-
lief that he was more than human, determined to es-
tablish his claim to the title of le grand, which their
fulsome adulation had bestowed on him, by the ex-
tirpation of the heretics from his dominions. Pre-
tending, however, to wish for their conversion to the
true faith, he gave them the alternative of voluntari-
ly becoming papists, or being compelled to it.

On their refusal to apostatize, they were dragoon-
ed ; that is, the dragoons, the most ruffianly and bar-
barous of his Christian majesty's troops, were quar-
tered upon them, with orders to live at discretion.
Their ideas of discretion may easily be conceived,
and accordingly the unhappy protestants were expo-
sed to every species of suffering which lust, avarice,
cruelty, bigotry, and brutality can engender in the
breasts of an ignorant, depraved, and infuriated sol-
diery, absolved from all restraint, and left to the dia-
bolical promptings of their worst passions, whose
flames were fanned by the assurances of the bishops,
priests, and friars, that they were fulfilling a sacred
duty, by punishing the enemies of God and religion.

An order was issued by the king, for the demoli-
tion of the protestant churches, and the banishment
21*

246 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

of the protestant ministers. Many other reformers
were also ordered to leave the kingdom in a few
days ; and we are told by Monsieur Claude, the cel-
ebrated author of " Les Plaintes des Protest cms"
who was himself banished at this time, that the most
frivolous pretexts were employed to detain those who
were about to quit France, so that by remaining in
that country beyond the time allowed by the eclict,
they might be sent to the galleys as a punishment for
infringing an order which they were thus prevented
from complying with.

On the whole, more than five hundred thousand
persons escaped or were banished. And these in-
dustrious citizens, whom the blind bigotry of a be-
sotted tyrant had driven from their native land, found
shelter and protection in England, Germany, and
other countries, which they amply repaid by the in-
troduction, of many useful arts and processes ; in par-
ticular, it is to them that the people of Great Britain
are indebted for the commencement of the silk man-
ufacture in that country.

In the mean while, those who either were purpose-
ly detained, or were unable to escape, were con-
demned to the galleys ; and after being imprisoned
in the most horrible dungeons, and fed only on bread
and water, and that very scantily, were marched off,
in large bodies, handcuffed, and chained together,
from one extremity of the kingdom to another. Their
sufferings during this dreadful journey were inde-
scribable. They were exposed to every vicissitude
of weather, almost without covering; and frequent-
ly, in the midst of winter, were obliged to pass the
nights on the bare earth, fainting from hunger and
thirst, agonized by disease, and writhing from the
lash of their merciless conductors. The consequence
was, that scarcely half the original number reached
their place of destination ; those who did, were im-
mediately exposed to new sufferings and additional
calamities.

PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. 247

They were put on board the galleys, where they
were subjected to the absolute control of the most
inhuman and barbarous wretches who ever disgraced
the human form. The labour of rowing, as perform-
ed in the galleys, is described as being the most ex-
cessive that can be imagined : and the sufferings of
the poor slaves were increased many fold by the
scourgings inflicted on them by their savage task-
masters. " The recital of their miseries is too horrible
to be* dwelt upon : we shall therefore pass to that pe-
riod when the Lord, of his infinite mercy, gave ear
to the cries of his afflicted servants, and graciously
raised them up a deliverer in Anne, queen of Eng-
land, who, filled with compassion for the unhappy
fate of so many of her fellow-protest ants, ordered her
ambassador at the court of France to make a spirited
remonstrance in their favour, which Louis, whose
affairs were then in a very critical situation, was un-
der the necessity of complying with ; and he accord-
ingly despatched orders to all the seaports for the im-
mediate release of every galley slave condemned for
his religion.

When this order was received at Marseilles, where
the majority of the protestants were detained, the
priests, and most particularly the Jesuits, were much
chagrined at the prospect of thus losing their vic-
tims, and determined to use all means in their pow-
er to prevent the order from being carried into ef-
fect. They prevailed on the intendant, a violent
and cruel bigot, to delay its execution for eight days,
till they could receive an answer to an address which
they immediately despatched to the king, exhorting
him to abandon his intention of releasing the heretics,
and representing the dreadful judgments which, they
asserted, might be expected to fall on himself and his
kingdom, as" the punishment of so ^reat a dereliction
from his duty as the eldest son of the chinch. At
least they desired, if his majesty were determined to
release the protestants, that he would not allow them

248 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

to remain in, or even pass through, France ; but
would compel them to leave the ports by sea, and
never again to enter his -dominions, on pain of revis-
iting the galleys.

Although Louis could not comply with the first
part of the petition of these truly papistical bigots,
the latter part was too congenial to his own inclina-
tions to be rejected. The protestants were ordered
to sail from the ports at which they had been con-
fined ; and the difficulty of obtaining vessels for their
conveyance, which the malignant priests used all
their arts to augment, occasioned a long delay, dur-
ing which the poor prisoners were suffering all the
agonies of uncertainty — that u hope deferred, which
maketh the heart sick," — and which led them to fear
that something might still intervene to prevent their
so much desired emancipation. But their heavenly
Father, ever mindful of those who suffer for his sake,
at length removed every obstacle which bigotry and
malice could interpose, and delivered them from the
hand of the oppressor. They went forth rejoicing,
praising and blessing His holy name, who had wrought
for them this great deliverance.

A deputation of those who had been released by
the interposition of queen Anne, waited upon her
majesty in London, to return their most grateful
thanks, on behalf of themselves and their brethren,
for her Christian interference in their favour. She
received them very graciously, and assured them that
she derived more pleasure from the consciousness of
having lessened the miseries of her fellow-protestants
than from the most brilliant events of her reign.

These exiles also established themselves in Eng-
land, which by their industry and ingenuity acquired
new riches every day, while France, by expelling
them, received a blow from which her commercial
and trading interests never recovered. Thus, even
on earth, did the Almighty punish the bigoted and
cruel, and reward the pious and beneficent. But

PAPAL USURPATIONS. 2^9

how fearful shall be the judgment of the persecutors
iu that great day when every action shall be weighed
in the balance of Eternal Justice ! How awful the
denunciation — " Depart from me, ye cursed ! I know
you not !" Will the plea of religious zeal be then
allowed '/ Will not the true motives of their barbari-
ty be exposed to Him " from whom no secret is hid ?"
Undoubtedly they will ; and lamentably ignorant are
they of the genuine spirit of Christianity, who ima-
gine that cruelty and persecution form any part of it.
Let them look to the conduct of its Divine Founder ;
to his meekness, his charity, his universal benevo-
lence ; let them consider these, and blush to call
themselves his followers ; and tremble at the doom
which his justice will award to those who have per-
verted his maxims of mercy and peace into denun-
ciations of hostility and extirpation.

BOOK IX.

Containing a brief history of the Reformation, and the remarkable
circumstances which preceded it, from the time of Wickliffe to the
reign of queen Mary.

SECTION I.

PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THE GREAT ASCEN-
DENCY OF THE POPES THROUGHOUT CHRISTEN-
DOM, IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

The year 606 marks the date of the supremacy of
the Roman pontiffs. From this period till the tenth
century, the power and influence of the Roman hie-
rarchy continued gradually to increase and extend ;
but from this latter date till the reformation which
was attempted by Wickliffe, about the year a. d.
1350, that power and influence extended with more
rapid strides, till at length all the sovereigns of Eu-

250 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

rope were compelled to do homage to the lordly sway
of his " Holiness."

To relate the tyrannical innovations upon the re-
ligion of Christ from the tenth to the middle of the
thirteenth century, would be incompatible with our
limits.

Suffice it to say, that scarcely a foreign war or civ-
il broil convulsed Europe during that period, which
did not originate in the artifices of popes, monks, and
friars. They frequently fell victims to their own
machinations ; for, from the year 1004, many popes
died violent deaths : several were poisoned ; Sylves-
ter was cut to pieces by his own people ; and the
reigns of his successors were but short. Benedict,
who succeeded John XXL, thought proper to resist
the emperor Henry III., and place in his room Peter,
king of Hungary ; but afterwards being alarmed by
the success of Henry, he sold his seat to Gratianus,
called Gregory VI. At this time there were three
popes in Rome, all striving against each other for the
supreme power, viz. : Benedict IX., Sylvester III.,
and Gregory VI. But the emperor Henry, coming to
Home, displaced these three monsters at once, and ap-
pointed Clement the Second, enacting that henceforth
no bishop of Rome should be chosen but by the consent
of the emperor. Though this law was necessary for
public tranquillity, yet it interfered too much with the
ambitious views of the cardinals, who accordingly ex-
erted themselves to get it repealed ; and failing in this,
on the departure of the emperor for Germany, they poi-
soned Clement, and at once violated the law by choos-
ing another pope without the imperial sanction.

This was Damasus II., who being also poisoned
within a few days from his appointment, much con-
tention took place. Whereupon the Romans sent to
the emperor, desiring him to give them a bishop ;
upon which he selected Bruno, a German, called
Leo IX. This pope was also poisoned in the first
year of his popedom.

PAPAL USURPATIONS. ^ 251

After his death Theophylactus made an effort to
be pope, but Hilder brand, to defeat him, went to the
emperor, and persuaded him to assign another bishop,
a German, who ascended the papal chair under the
title of Victor II.

The second year of his papacy, this pope also fol-
lowed his predecessors, like them being poisoned.

On the death of Victor, the cardinals elected Ste-
phen IX. for pope, contrary to their oath, and the em-
peror's assignment. From this period, indeed, their
ascendency was so great, that the most powerful sov-
ereigns of Europe were obliged to do them homage :
and Nicholas, who succeeded Stephen, established
the council of the Lateran.

In this council first was promulgated the terrible
.sentence of excommunication against all such as "do
creep into the seat of Peter by money or favour, with-
out the full consent of the cardinals ;" cursing them
and their children with the anger of Almighty God;
and giving authority and power to cardinals, with
the clergy and laity, to depose all such persons, and
call a council-general, wheresoever they will, against
them.

Pope Nicholas only reigned three years and a half,
and then, like his predecessors, was poisoned.

Submission of the Emperor Henry IV. to the Pope.

To such a height had papal insolence now attain-
ed, that, on the emperor Henry IV. refusing to sub-
mit to some decrees of pope Gregory VII., the latter
excommunicated him, and absolved all his subjects
from their oath of allegiance to him : on this he was
deserted by his nobility, and, dreading the consequen-
ces, though a brave man, he found it necessary to
make his submission. He accordingly repaired to
the city of Canusium, where the pope then was, (a.
d. 1077,) and went barefooted with his wife and child
to the gate; where he remained from morning to
night, fasting, humbly desiring absolution, and crav-

252 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ing to be let in. But no ingress being given him, ho
continued thus three days together ; at length, an-
swer came, that his holiness had yet no leisure to
talk with him. The emperor patiently waited with-
out the walls, although in the depth of winter. At
length his request was granted, through the entrea-
ties of Matilda, the pope's paramour. On the fourth
day, being let in, for a token of his true repentance,
he yielded to the pope's hands his crown, and con-
fessed himself unworthy of the empire, if he ever
again offended against the pope, desiring for that time
to be absolved and forgiven. The pope answered,
he would neither forgive him, nor release the bond
of his excommunication, but upon condition that he
would abide by his arbitrement in the council, and
undergo such penance as he should enjoin him ; that
he should answer to all objections and accusations
laid against him, and that he should never seek re-
venge ; that it should be at the pope's pleasure, whe-
ther' his kingdom should be restored or not, Final-
ly, that before the trial of his cause, he should nei-
ther use his kingly ornaments, nor usurp the autho-
rity to govern, nor exact any oath of allegiance from
his subjects, &c. These things being promised to
the pope by an oath, the emperor only was released
from excommunicatiou.

King John surrenders his crown to the Pope,

The ascendency of the popes was never more fully
evinced than by a remarkable fact in the history of
England. King John, having incurred the hatred of
his barons and people by his cruel and tyrannical
measures, they took arms against him, and offered
the crown to Louis, son of the French king. By
seizing the possessions of the clergy, John had also
fallen under the displeasure of the pope, who accord-
ingly laid the kingdom under an interdict, and absolv-
ed his subjects from their allegiance. Alarmed at this
the tyrant earnestly sued for peace with his holiness

PAPAL USURPATIONS. 253

hoping, by his mediation, to obtain favourable terms
from the barons, or, by his thunders, to terrify them
into submission. He made the most abject suppli-
cations, and the pope, ever willing to increase the
power of the church, sent cardinal Pandulf as legate
to the king at Canterbury, to whom John resigned
his crown and dominions ; and the cardinal, after re-
taining the crown five days, in token of possession,
returned it to the king, on condition of his making a
yearly payment of 1000 marks to the court of Rome,
and holding the dominions of England and Ireland
inform from the pope.

But if John expected any benefit from this most
disgraceful transaction, he was disappointed : and
instead of enjoying the crown which he had so base-
ly surrendered and received again, the short remain-
der of his life was disturbed by continual insurrec-
tions, and he at last died either of grief, or by poison
administered to him by a monk of Swineshead in
Lincolnshire. The latter eause is assigned by many
historians, and we are told that the king", suspecting
some fruit which was presented to him at the above
convent to be poisoned, ordered the monk who
brought it to eat of it ; which he did, and died in a
few hours after.

An Emperor trodden on by the Pope.

The papal usurpations were extended to every
part of Europe. In Germany, the emperor Frederic
was compelled to submit to be trodden under the feet
of pope Alexander, and dared not make any resist-
ance. In England, however, a spirit of resentment
broke out in various reigns, in consequence of the
oppressions and horrible conduct of those anti-chris-
tian blasphemers, which continued with more or less
violence till the time of the great Wickliffe, of whom
we shall sneak more fully in the following pages.

254 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

SECTION II.

ACCOUNT OP WICKLIFFE, AND OF THE MARTYRS WH<?
SUFFERED IN DEFENCE OF HIS DOCTRINES.

The first attempts made in England towards the
reformation of the church, took place in the reign of
Edward III., about a. d. 1350, when John Wickliffe
appeared. This early star of the English church
was public reader of divinity in the university of Ox-
ford, and, by the learned of his day, was accounted
deeply versed in theology, and all kinds of philoso-
phy. At the time of his appearance, the greatest
darkness pervaded the church. Scarcely any thing
but the name of Christ remained ; his true doctrine
being as far unknown to the most part, as his name
was common to all. As to faith, consolation, the end
and use of the law, the office of Christ, our impoten-
cy and weakness, the greatness and strength of sin,
of true works, grace, and free justification by faith,
wherein Christianity consists, they were either un-
known or disregarded. Scripture learning and divi-
nity were known but to a few, and that in the schools
only, where they were turned and converted into
sophistry. Instead of Peter and Paul, men occupied
their time in studying Aquinas and Scotus ; and. for-
saking the lively power of God's spiritual word and
doctrine, were altogether led and blinded with out-
ward ceremonies and human traditions, insomuch
that scarcely any other thing' was seen in the church-
es, taught or spoken of in sermons, or intended or
sought after in their whole lives, but the heaping up
of ceremonies upon ceremonies ; and the people were
taught to worship no other thing but that which they
saw, and almost all they saw they worshipped. But
Wickliffe was inspired with a purer sense of religion ;
and knowing it to be his duty to impart the gracious
blessing to others, he published his belief with re-
gard to the several articles of religion, in which he

SCHISM IN THE COURT OF ROME. 255

utSeied from the common doctrine. Pope Gregory
XI. hearing this, condemned some of his tenets, and
commanded the archbishop of Canterbury, and the
bishop of London, to oblige him to subscribe the
condemnation of them ; and, in case of refusal, to
summon him to Rome. This commission could not
easily be executed, Wickliffe having powerful friends,
the chief of whom was John of Gaunt, duke of Lan-
caster, son of Edward III. The archbishop holding
a synod at St. Paul's, Wickliffe appeared, accompa-
nied by the duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy, mar-
shal of England, when a dispute arising whether
Wickliffe should answer sitting or standing, the duke
of Lancaster proceeded to threats, and treated the
bishop with very little ceremony. The people pres-
ent, thinking the bishop in danger, sided with him,
so that the duke and the marshal thought it prudent
to retire, and to take Wickliffe with them. After
this an insurrection ensued, the clergy and their em-
issaries spreading a report that the duke of Lancaster
had persuaded the king to take away the privileges
of the city of London, &c, which fired the people to
such a degree, that they broke open the Marshalsea,
and freed all the prisoners ; and not contented with
this, a vast number of them went to the duke's pal-
ace in the Savoy, when missing his person, they
plundered his house. For this outrage, the duke of
Lancaster caused the lord mayor and aldermen to
be removed from their offices, imagining they had
not used their authority to quell the mutineers. Af-
ter this, the bishops meeting a second time, Wickliffe
explained to them his sentiments with regard to the
sacrament of the eucharist, in opposition to the be-
lief of the papists ; for which the bishops only en-
joined him silence, not daring, at that time, to pro-
ceed to greater extremities against him.

Great Schism in the Church of Rome.
A circumstance occurred at this period, by the
providence of God, which greatly tended to facilitate

256 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

the progress of truth. This was a great schism in
the church of Rome, which originated as follows :
After the death of Gregory XL, who expired in the
midst of his anxiety to crush Wickliffe and his doc-
trines, Urban the Sixth succeeded to the papal chair.
This pope was so proud and insolent, and so intent
on the advancement of his nephews and kindred,
which he frequently accomplished by injuring other
princes, that the greatest number of his cardinals and
courtiers deserted him, and set up another pope
against him, named Clement, who reigned eleven
years. After him, Benedict the Thirteenth, who
reigned twenty-six years. Again, on the contrary
side, after Urban the Sixth, succeeded Boniface the
Ninth, Innocent the Eighth, Gregory the Twelfth,
Alexander the Fifth, and John the Thirteenth. To
relate all the particulars of this miserable schism
would require volumes ; we shall merely take notice
of a few of the principal occurrences, from which the
reader may form an idea of the bloodshed and misery
brought on the Christian world by the ambition and
wickedness of these pretended representatives of our
blessed Saviour ; and may judge how widely they
departed from his blessed maxims of peace and good
will to all men. Otho, duke of Brunswick and prince
of Tarentum, was taken and murdered. Joan, his
wife, queen of Jerusalem and Sicily, who had sent
to pope Urban, besides other gifts, 40,000 ducats in
gold, was afterwards, by his order, committed to
prison, and there strangled. Many cardinals were
racked and tortured to death ; battles were fought
between the rival popes, in which great multitudes 5
were slain. Five cardinals were beheaded together,
after long torments. The bishop of Aquilonensis,
being suspected by pope Urban, for not riding faster
when in his company, was slain on the spot by the
pope's order. Thus did these demons in human
form torment each other for the space of thirty-nine
years, until the council of Constance.

WICKLIFFE TRANSLATES THE BIBLE. 257

Wickliffe translates the Bible.
Wickliffe, paying less regard to the injunctions of
the bishops than to his duty to God, continued to
promulgate his doctrines, and gradually to unveil the
truth to the eyes of men. He wrote several books,
which, as may be supposed, gave great alarm and of-
fence to the clergy. But God raising him up a pro-
tector in the duke cf Lancaster, he was secure from
their malice. He translated the Bible into English,
which, amidst the ignorance of the times, may be
compared to the sun breaking forth in a dark night.
To this Bible he prefixed a bold preface, wherein he
reflected on the immoralities of the clergy, and con-
demned the worship of saints, images, and the cor-
poral presence of Christ in the sacrament : but what
gave the greatest offence to the priests was, his ex-
horting all people to read the scriptures, in which the
testimonies against all those corruptions appeared so
strongly.

About the same time the common people, goaded
to desperation by the oppressions of the nobility and
clergy, rose in arms, and committed great devasta-
tions ; and, among other persons of distinction, they
put to death Simon of Sudbury, archbishop of Can-
terbury. He was succeeded by William Courtney,
who was no less diligent than his predecessor had
been, in attempting to root out heretics. Notwith-
standing all opposition, however, WicklirTe's sect in-
creased, and daily grew to greater force, until the
time that William Barton, vice-chancellor of Oxford,
who had the whole rule of that university, assisted
oy some monastic doctors, issued an edict, prohibit-
ing all persons, under a heavy penalty, from associa-
ting themselves with any of WicklirTe's favourers ;
and threatening Wickliffe himself with excommuni-
cation and imprisonment, unless he, after three days
canonical admonition or warning, did repent and
amend. Upon this, Wickliffe wished to appeal to
the king: but the duke of Lancaster forbade him;
22*

253 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

whereupon he was forced again to make confession
of his doctrine ; in which confession, by qualifying
his assertions, he mitigated the rigour of his enemies.

Still his followers greatly multiplied. Many of
them, indeed, were not men of learning; but being
wrought upon by the conviction of plain reason, they
were the more steadfast in their persuasion. In a
short time his doctrines made a great progress, being
not only espoused by vast numbers of the students
of Oxford, but also by many of the nobility, particu-
larly by the Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy, earl
marshal, as before mentioned.

Wickliffe may thus be considered as the great
founder of the reformation in England. He was of
Merton college in Oxford, where he took his doctor's
degree, and became so eminent for his fine genius
and great learning, that Simon Islip, archbishop of
Canterbury, having founded Canterbury college, now
Christ Church, in Oxford,- appointed him rector;
which employment he filled with universal approba-
tion, till the death of the archbishop. Langholm,
successor to Islip, being desirous of favouring the
monks, and introducing them into the college, at-
tempted to remove Wickliffe, and put Woodhall, a
monk, in his place. But the fellows of the college,
being attached to Wickliffe, would not consent to
this. Nevertheless, the affair being carried to Rome.
Wickliffe was deprived in favour of Woodhall. This
did not at all lessen the reputation of the former, every
one perceiving it was a general affair, and that the
monks did not so much strike at Wickliffe's person,
as at all the secular priests who were members of the
college. And, indeed, they were all turned out, to
make room for the monks. Shortly after, Wickliffe
was presented to the living of Lutterworth, in the
county of Leicester, where he remained unmolested
till his death, which happened December 31, 1385.
But after the body of this good man had lain in the
grave forty-one years, his bones were taken up by

BURNING OF THE WICKL1FFITES. 259

the decree of the synod of Constance, publicly burnt,
and his ashes thrown into a river. The condemna-
tion of his doctrine did not prevent its spreading all
over the kingdom, and with such success, that, ac-
cording to Spelman, " two men could not be found
together, and one not a Lollard or Wickliffite."

Burning of the Wickllffites.

In the council of Lateran, a decree was made with
regard to heretics, which required all magistrates to
extirpate them upon pain of forfeiture and deposi-
tion. The canons of this council being received in
England, the prosecution of the heretics became a
part of the common law; and a writ (styled cle here-
tico comburendo) was issued under king Henry IV.
for burning them upon their conviction ; and it was
enacted, that all who presumed to preach without
the license of the bishops, should be imprisoned, and
brought to trial within three months. If, upon con-
viction, they offered to abjure, and were not relapses,
they were to be imprisoned and fined at pleasure ;
but if they refused to abjure, or were relapses, they
were to be delivered over to the secular arm ; and
the magistrates were to burn them in some public
place. About this time, William Sautre, parish priest
of St. Osith in London, being condemned as a re-
lapse, and degraded by Arundel, archbishop of Can-
terbury, a writ was issued, wherein burning is called
the common punishment, and referring to the cus-
toms of other nations. This was the first example
of that sort in England.

The clergy, alarmed lest the doctrines of Wickliffe
should ultimately become established, used every ex-
ertion in their power to check them. In the reigu
of Richard II., the bishops had obtained a general
license to imprison heretics, without being: obliged
to procure a special order from court, which, how-
ever, the House of Commons caused to be revoked.
But "as the fear of imprisonment could not check the

260 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

pretended evil dreaded by the bishops, Henry IV.,
whose particular object was to secure the affection
of the clergy, earnestly recommended to the parlia-
ment the concerns of the church. How reluctant
soever the House of Commons might be to prosecute
the Lollards, the credit of the court, and the cabals
of the clergy, at last obtained a most detestable act,
for burning of obstinate heretics ; which bloody stat-
ute was hot repealed till the year 1677. It was im-
mediately after the passing of this statute, that the
ecclesiastical court condemned William Sautre above
mentioned.

Increase of Wickliffe''s Doctrine.

Notwithstanding the opposition of the popish cler-
gy, Wickliffe's doctrine continued to spread greatly
in Henry the IVth's reign, even to such a degree,
that the majority of the House of Commons were in-
clined to it : whence they presented two petitions to
the king, one against the clergy, the other in favour
of the Lollards. The first set forth, that the f clergy
made ill use of their wealth, and consumed their in-
come in a manner quite different from the intent of
the donors. That their revenues were excessive,
and, consequently, that it would be necessary to less-
en them ; that so many estates might easily be seized
as would provide for 150 earls, at the rate of 3,000
marks a year each, 1,500 barons, at 100 marks each,
6,200 knights, at 40 marks, and 100 hospitals ; that
by this means the safety of the kingdom might be bet-
ter provided for, the poor better maintained, and the
clergy more devoted to their duty. In the second
petition, the commons prayed, that the statute passed
against the Lollards, in the second year of this reign,
might be repealed, or qualified with some restrictions.
As it was the king's interest to please the clergy, he
answered the commons very sharply, that he neither
could nor would consent to their petitions. And with
regard to the Lollards, he declared he wished the

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 261

heretics were extirpated out of the land. To prove
the truth of this, he signed a warrant for burning
Thomas Badby.

SECTION III.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN THE REIGN OF
HENRY VIII.

The reader will, doubtless, attend to the transac-
tions recorded in this reign with peculiar interest. It
was in this period that God, through the instrumen-
tality of the king, liberated England from the papal
yoke, and made this country, as it were, a religious
world dependant on itself.

The wars between the two houses of York and
Lancaster had produced such fatal revolutions, and
thrown England into such frequent convulsions, that
the nation, with great joy, hailed the accession of
Henry the Seventh to the throne, who being himself
descended from the house of Lancaster, by his mar-
riage with the heiress of the house of York, freed
them from the fear of any other civil wars. But the
covetousness of his temper, the severity of his minis-
ters, and his jealousy of the house of York, made him
so generally odious to his people, that his death was
little lamented.

Henry the Eighth succeeded, a. d. 1509, with all
the advantages he could have desired ; and his dis-
gracing Empson and Dudley, the cruel ministers of
his father's avaricious designs, his appointing resti-
tution to be made of the sums that had been unjust-
ly exacted of the people, and his ordering justice to
be done on those rapacious ministers, gave all peo-
ple hopes of happy times; and when ministers by the
king's orders were condemned and executed for in-
vading the liberties of the people, under the covert
of the king's prerogative, it made the nation con-
clude, that they should hereafter live secure, under

262 BOOK OF MARTYRS,

the protection of such a prince, and that the violent
remedies of parliamentary judgments should be no
more necessary, except, as in this case, to confirm
what had been done before in the oidinary courts of
justice.

The king also, either from the munificence of his
own temper, or the observation he had made of the
ill effects of his father's parsimony, distributed his
rewards and largesses with an unmeasured bounty :
so that he quickly expended those treasures which
his father had left ; but till the ill effects of this ap-
peared, it raised in his*court and subjects the great-
est hopes possible of a prince, whose first actions
showed an equal mixture of justice and generosity.

Character of Cardinal Wolsey.

One of the most remarkable men of this, or perhaps
of any other age, was Cardinal Wolsey. He was of
mean extraction, but possessed great abilities, and had
a wonderful dexterity in insinuating himself into
men's favour. He had but a little time been introdu-
ced to the king before he obtained an entire ascen-
dency over him, and the direction of all his affairs,
and for fifteen years continued to be the most abso-
lute favourite ever known in England. He saw the
king was much set on his pleasures, and had a great
aversion to business, and the other counsellors, being
unwilling to bear the load of affairs, were trouble-
some to him, by pressing him to govern by his own
counsels ; but Wolsey knew the methods of favourites
better, and so was not only easy, but assistant to the
king in his pleasures, and undertook to free him from
the trouble of government, and to give him leisure
to follow his appetites.

He was master of all the offices at home, and trea-
ties abroad, so that all affairs went as he directed
them. He soon became obnoxious to parliaments,
and therefore tried but one during his ministry, where
the supply was granted so scantily, that afterwards

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 263

he chose rather to raise money by loans and benevo-
lences, than by the free gift of the people in parlia-
ment. He in time became so scandalous for his ill
life, that he grew to be a disgrace to his profession ;
for he not only served the king, but also shared with
him in his pleasures. He was first made bishop of
Ton may in Flanders, then of Lincoln, after that
he was promoted to the see of York, and had both
the abbey of St. Albans and the bishopric of Bath
and Wells in commendam ; the last he afterwards
exchanged for Duresm, and upon Fox's death, he
quitted Duresm, that he might take Winchester ; and
besides all this, the king, by a special grant, gave him
power to dispose of alt the ecclesiastical preferments
in England ; so that in effect he was the pope of the
British world, and no doubt but he copied skilfully
enough after those patterns that were set him at
Rome. Being made a cardinal, and setting up a le-
gatine court, he found it fit for his ambition to have
the great seal likewise, that there might be no clash-
ing between those two jurisdictions. He had, in one
word, all the qualities necessary for a great minister,
and all the vices usual in a great favourite.

Persecution of the Lollards.

In the beginning of this reign, several persons were
brought into the bishops' courts for heresy, or Lol-
lardism. Forty-eight were accused : but of these,
forty-three abjured, twenty-seven men and sixteen
women, most of them being of Tenderden : and five
of them, four men and one woman, were condemned ;
some as obstinate heretics, and others as relapses :
and, against the common laws of nature, the woman's
husband, and her two sons, were brought as witness-
es against her. Upon their conviction, a certificate
was made by the archbishop to the chancery : upon
which, since there is no pardon upon record, the
writs for burning them must have been issued in
course, and the execution of them is little to be

264 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

doubted. The articles objected to them were, that
they believed that in the eucharist there was nothing
but material bread ; that the sacraments of baptism,
confirmation, confession, matrimony, and extreme
unction, were neither necessary nor profitable ; that
priests had no more power than laymen ; that pil-
grimages were not meritorious, and that the money
and labour spent in them were spent in vain ; that
images ought not to be worshipped, and that they
were only stocks and stones ; that prayers ought not
to be made to saints, but only to God ; that there
was no virtue in holy water, or holy bread. By this
it will appear, that many in this nation were prepar-
ed to receive those doctrines which were afterwards
preached by the reformers, even before Luther be-
gan first to oppose indulgences.

Progress of Luthei^s doctrine.

The rise and progress of the doctrines of Luther
are well known ; the scandalous sale of indulgences
gave the first occasion to all that followed between
him and the church of Rome ; in which, had not the
corruptions and cruelties of the clergy been so visi-
ble and scandalous, so small a cause could never have
produced so great a revolution.

The bishops were grossly ignorant ; they seldom
resided in their diocesses, except on great festivals ;
and all the effect their residence at such times could
have, was to corrupt others by their ill example.
They attached themselves to princes, and aspired to
the greatest offices. The abbots and monks were
wholly given up to f luxury and idleness ; and their
unmarried state gave infinite scandal to the world ;
for it appeared that the restraining them from hav-
ing wives of their own, made them conclude that they
had a right to all other men's. The inferior clergy
were no better ; and not having places of retreat to
conceal their vices in, as the monks had, they be-
came more public. In short, all ranks of churchmen

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 265

hxa6 iso universally despised and hated, tnat the
world was very easily possessed with prejudice against
the doctrines of men whom they knew to be capable
of every vice ; and the worship of God was so defil-
ed with gross superstition, that all men were easily
convinced, that the church stood in great need of a
reformation. This was much increased when the
books of the fathers began to be read, in which the
difference between the former and latter ages of the
church did very evidently appear. It was found that
a blind superstition came first in the room of true pie-
ty; and when by its means the wealth and interest
of the clergy were highly advanced, the popes had
upon that established their tyranny ; under which all
classes of people had long groaned. All these things
concurred to make way for the advancement of the
reformation ; and the books of the German reform-
ers being brought into England, and translated, many
were prevailed on by them. Upon this, a furious
persecution was set on foot, to such a degree, that
six men and women were burnt in Covenfery-in pas-
sion-week, only for teaching their children the creed,
the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments in
English. Great numbers were every where brought
into the bishops 7 courts ; of whom some were burnt,
but the greater part abjured.

The king laid hold on this occasion to become the
champion of the church, and wrote against Lutner.
His book, besides the title of " Defender of the
Faith," drew upon him all that flattery could invent
to extol it ; yet Luther, not daunted hy such an an-
tagonist, answered it. and treated him as much be-
low the respect that was due to a king, as his flatter-
ers had raised him above it. TindaPs translation of
the New Testament, with notes, drew a severe con-
demnation from the clergy, there being nothing in
which they were more concerned, than to keep the
people unacquainted with that book. Thus much
may serve to show the condition of affairs in Eng-
23

266 BOOK OF MARTYRS. '

land, both in church and state, when the process of
the king's divorce was first set on foot.

History of Henry's marriage icith Catherine.

As this incident is so replete with consequences,
a particular relation of its causes will not, it is pre-
sumed, be unacceptable to the reader.

Henry the Seventh had entered into a firm alliance
with Ferdinand of Spain, and agreed on a match be-
tween his son prince Arthur, and Catherine the In-
fanta of Spain. She came into England, and was
married in November ; but on the second of April
after, the prince died. They were not only bedded
in ceremony the night of the marriage, but continu-
ed still to lodge together ; and the prince gave occa-
sion to believe that the marriage was consummated.

The king being unwilling to restore so great a por
tion as 200,000 ducats, which the princess brought as
her dowry, proposed a second match for her with his
younger son Henry. Warham objected against the
lawfulness of it ; but Fox, bishop of Winchester, was
for it, and the opinion of the pope's authority was
then so well established, that it was thought a dis-
pensation from Rome was sufficient to remove all
objections. Accordingly, one was obtained, ground-
ed upon the desire of the two young persons to mar-
ry together, for the preservation of peace between
the crowns of England and Spain.

The pope was then at war with Lewis the Twelfth
of France, and so would refuse nothing to the king
of England, being perhaps not unwilling" that princes
should contract such marriages, by which the legiti-
mation of their issue depending on the pope's dis-
pensation, they would be thereby obliged in interest
to support that authority. Upon this a marriage fol-
lowed, the prince being yet under age ; but the same
day in which he came to be of age, he did, by his
father's orders, make a protestation that he retracted
and annulled his marriage.

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 267

Henry the Seventh, on his death-bed, charged his
son to break it off entirely, being perhaps apprehen-
sive of such a return of confusion upon a controvert-
ed succession to the crown, as had been during the
wars of the houses of York and Lancaster ; but after
his father's death, Henry the Eighth, being then eigh-
teen years of age, married her : she bore him two
sons, who died soon after they were born ; and a
daughter, Mary, afterwards queen of England. After
this the queen contracted some diseases that made
her unacceptable to the king ; who, at the same time,
beginning to have some scruples of conscience with
regard to the lawfulness of his marriage, determined
to have the affair investigated.

Tlie King's scruples concerning his Marriage.

He seemed to lay the greatest weight on the pro-
hibition in the Levitical law, of marrying the brother's
wife, and being conversant in Thomas Aquinas's wri-
tings, he found that he and the other schoolmen look-
ed on those laws as moral, and forever binding; and
consequently the pope's dispensation was of no force,
since his authority went not so far as to dispense with
the laws of God. All the bishops of England, Fish-
er of Rochester only excepted, declared under their
hands and seals, that they judged the marriage un-
lawful. The ill consequences of wars that might fol-
low upon a doubtful title to the crown, were also
much considered. It is not certain that Henry's af-
fection for any other lady was the origin of these pro-
ceedings ; but whatever be the determination of this
point, it is certain that about this time he gave free
scope to his affections towards Anne Boleyn.

This lady was born in the year 1507, and at seven
years of age was sent to France, where she remained
twelve years, and then returned to England, She
was much admired in both courts, was more beauti-
ful than graceful, and more cheerful than discreet.
She wanted none of the charms of wit or person, and

288 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

must have had extraordinary attractions, since she
could so long retain her place in such a king's affec-
tion.

Knight, secretary of state, was sent to Rome to
prepare the pope to grant a dispensation from the
marriage, which the pope promised : hut another
promise being exacted of him by the emperor Charles
V., nephew of Catherine, he was reduced to great
straits ; being then at the emperor's mercy, he wish-
ed the king's patience. The pope signed a commis-
sion for Wolsey to try the cause, but prayed that
there might be nothing decided till he was out of the
emperor's power.

Campcgio came to England, and advised the king
.to relinquish the prosecution of his suit, and then
counselled the queen, in the pope's name, to enter
into a religious community; both were in vain, for
neither followed his advice.

The queen at length appeals to the pope.

The king and court take great offence at the con-
duct of the pope's ambassador, Campegio, for his
frequent delays, and the king dismissed him before
any thing was done.

Account of Cranmer.

At this period, Dr. Cranmer, a fellow of Jesus'
college in Cambridge, meeting accidentally with Gar-
diner and Fox at Waltham, and entering into dis-
course upon the royal marriage, suggested that the
king should engage the chief universities and divines
of Europe to examine the lawfulness of his marriage;
and if they gave their resolutions against it, then, it
being certain that the pope's dispensation could not
derogate from the law of God, the marriage must be
declared null. This novel and reasonable scheme
they proposed to the king, who was much pleased
with it, as he saw this way was better in itself, and
would mortify the pope. Cranmer was accordingly
sent for, and on conversing with him, the king con-

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 269

ceived a high opinion both of his learning and pru-
dence, as well as of his probity and sincerity, which
took such root in his mind, that no artifices nor ca-
lumnies were able to remove it.

Wolsey is disgraced.

From this moment began the decline of Wolsey.
The great seal was taken from him, and given to Sir
Thomas More : and he was sued in a praemunire, for
having held the legitimate courts by a foreign authori-
ty, contrary to the laws of England : he confessed
the indictment, pleaded ignorance, and submitted
himself to the king's mercy.

The King marries Anne Boleyn.
Soon after this, the king married Anne Boleyn ;
Rowland Lee (afterwards bishop of Coventry and
Litchfield) officiated, none being present but the duke
of Norfolk, and her father, mother, brother, and
Cranmer. It was thought that the former marriage
being null, the king might proceed to another : and
perhaps they hoped, that as the pope had formerly
proposed this method, so he would now approve of
it. But though the pope had joined himself to France,
yet he was still so much in fear of the emperor, that
he dared not provoke him. Anew citation was there-
fore issued out, for the king to answer to the queen's
complaints ; but Henry's agents protested that their
master was a sovereign prince, and England a free
church, over which the pope had no just authority ;
and that the kins: could expect no justice at Rome,
where the emperor's power was so great.

The Parliament condemns appeals to Rome.

At this time the parliament met again, and passed
an act, condemning all appeals to Rome ; and en-
acting that thenceforth all causes should be judged
within the kingdom, and that sentences given in Eng-
land were to have full effect : and all that executed
93*

270 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

\

any censures from Rome, were to incur the pain of
praemunire.

Cranmer made Archbishop of Canterbury.

Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, having died
the preceding year, was succeeded by Cranmer, who
was then in Germany, disputing in the king's cause
with some of the emperor's divines. The king re-
solved to. advance him to that dignity, and sent him
word of it, that so he might make haste over : but a
promotion so far above his thoughts, had not its com-
mon effects on him; he had a true and primitive
sense of so great a change ; and instead of aspiring
to it, feared it ; and, returning very slowly to Eng-
land, used all his endeavours to be excused from that
advancement. Bulls were sent for to Rome, in or-
der to his consecration, which the pope granted, and
on the 30th of .March, Cranmer was consecrated by
the bishops of Lincoln, Exeter, and St. Asaph. The
oath to the pope was of hard digestion to him. He
therefore made a protestation, before he took it, that
he conceived himself not bound by it in any thing
that was contrary to his duty to God, to his king, or
to his country ; and this he repeated when he took it.

Coronation of Anne Boleyn.

Some days after this, another judgment was given,
confirming the king's marriage with queen Anne, and
on the first of June she was crowned. All people
admired her conduct, who, during so many years,
managed the spirit of so violent a king in such a man-
ner, as neither to surfeit him with too many favours,
nor to provoke him with too much rigour. They
that loved the reformation, looked for better days
under her protection ; but many priests and friars,
both in sermons and discourses, condemned the king's
proceedings. Henry sent ambassadors to the various
courts of Europe, to justify what he had done : he
sent also to queen Catherine, charging her to assume

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 271

no other title than that of princess dowager ; but to
this she refused obedience, saying, she would not take
that infamy on herself; and so resolved, that none
should serve about her who did not treat her as
queen.

At Rome the cardinals of the Imperial faction com-
plained much of the attempt made on the pope ; s
power, and urged him to proceed to censures. But
there was only sentence given, annulling all that the
archbishop of Canterbury had done ; and the king
was required, under pain of excommunication, to
place things again in the state in which they former-
ly were ; and this notification was affixed at Dun-
kirk. The king sent an embassy to the French mo-
narch, who was then setting out to Marseilles, to meet
the pope ; their errand was to dissuade him from the
journey, unless the pope promised Henry satisfaction :
Francis said, he was engaged in honour to go on ; but
assured them, he would mind the king's concerns with
as much zeal as if they were his own.

Birth of the Princess Elizabeth,

In September the queen brought forth a daughter,
afterwards the renowned queen Elizabeth : and the
king having before declared lady Mary princess of
Wales, did now the same for her ; though, since a son
rni^ht exclude her from it, she could not be heir ap-
parent, but only heir presumptive to the crown.

The eventful moment was now at hand, when the
incident should take place that would cause the se-
paration of England from the church of Rome. There
was a secret agreement between the pope and Fran-
cis, that if king Henry would refer his cause to the
consistory, excepting only the cardinals of the Impe-
rial faction, as partial, and would in all other things
return to his obedience to the see of Rome, the sen-
tence should he given in his favour. When Francis
returned to Paris, he sent over the bishop of that
city to the king, to tell what he had obtained of the

272 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

pope in his favour, and the terms on which it was ju o-
mised : this wrought so much on the king; that he
presently consented to them : upon which, the bish-
op of Paris, though it was now in the middle of win-
ter, went to Rome in consequence. Upon his arri-
val there, the matter seemed agreed ; for it was pro
mised, that upon the king's sending a promise under
his hand to place things in their former state, and
his ordering a proxy to appear for him, judges should
be sent to Cambray for making the process, and then
sentence should be given. Upon the notice given
of this, and of a day fixed for the return of the cour-
ier, the king despatched him with all possible haste :
and now the business seemed at an end. But the
courier had the sea and the Alps to pass, and in win-
ter it was not easy to observe a limited day so exact-
ly. The appointed day came, and no courier arriv-
ed ; upon which the imperialists gave out, that the
king was abusing the pope's easiness ; and pressed
him vehemently to proceed to a sentence : the bish-
op of Paris requested only a delay of six da 5^. But
the design of the Imperialists was to hinder a recon-
ciliation ; for if the king had been set right with the"
pope, there would have been so powerful a league
formed against the emperor, as would have frustra-
ted all his measures : and therefore it was necessary
for his politics to embroil them. Seduced by the ar-
tifice of this intriguing prince, the pope, contrary to
his ordinary prudence, brought the matter before the
consistory ; and thqre the Imperialists having the ma-
jority, it was driven on with so much precipitation,
that they did in one day, that which, according to
foxm, should have occupied three.

They gave the final sentence, declared the king's
marriage with queen Catherine good, and required
him to live with her as his wife, otherwise they would
proceed to censures. Two days after this, the cour-
ier came with the king's submission in due form ; he
also brought earnest letters from Francis in the king's

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 273

favour. This wrought on all the indifferent cardinals,
as well as those of the French faction, so much that
they prayed the pope to recall what was done. A
new consistory was called ; but the Imperialists urg-
ed, with greater vehemence than ever, that they
would not give such scandal to the world as to recall
a definitive sentence passed of the validity of a filar
riage, and give the heretics such advantages by theii
unsteadiness in matters of that nature ; it was there-
fore carried, that the former sentence should, take
place, and the execution of it committed to the em-
peror. When this was known in England, it deter-
mined the king in his resolution of shaking off the
papal yoke, in which he had made so great a pro-
gress, that the parliament had passed all the acts con-
cerning it before he received the news from Rome ;
for he judged that the best way to secure his cause
was to let Rome see his power, and with what vigour
he could make war.

Arguments for rejecting the Pope's power.

In England the foundations on which the papal
authority was built, had been examined with extra-
ordinary care of late years ; and several books were
written on that subject. It was demonstrated that all
the apostles were made equal in the powers that
Christ gave them, and he often condemned their con-
tests about superiority, but never declared in Peter's
favour. Paul withstood him to his face, and reckoned
himself not inferior to him. If the dignity of a per-
son left any authority with the cfty in which he sat,
then Antioch must carry it as well as Rome ; and
Jerusalem, where Christ suffered, was to be prefer-
red to all the world, for it was truly the mother-
church. The other privileges ascribed to Peter,
were either only a precedence of order, or were oc-
casioned by his fall, as that injunction, " Feed my
sheep," it being a restoring him to the apostolical
function Peter had also aTlhnited province^ the cir-

274 BOOK OP MARTVRS.

cumcision, as Paul had the r.ncircumcision, of far
greater extent: which showed that Petei was not
considered as the universal pastor.

Several sees, as Ravenna, Milan, and Aquileia,
pretended exemption from the papal authority. Ma-
ny English bishops had asserted that the popes had
no authority against the canons, and to that day no
canon the pope made was binding till it was receiv-
ed ; which showed the pope's authority was not be-
lieved to be founded on a divine authority : and the
contests which the kings of England had had with
the popes concerning investitures, bishops doing ho-
mage, appeals to Rome, and the authority of papal
bulls and provisions, showed that t^e pope's power
was believed to be subject to laws and custom, and
so not derived from Christ and Peter ; and as laws
had given them some power, and princes had been
forced in ignorant ages to submit to their usurpations,
so they might, as they saw cause, change those laws,
and resume their rights.

The next point inquired into was, the authority
that kings had in matters of religion and the church.
In the New Testament, Christ was himself subject to
the civil powers, and charged his disciples not to af-
fect temporal dominion. They also wrote to the
churches to be subject to the higher powers, and call
them supreme, and charge every soul to be subject
to them : so in scripture the king is called head and
supreme, and every soul is said to be under him,
which joined together makes up this conclusion, that
he is the supreme head over all persons. In the pri-
mitive church the bishops only made rules or canons,
but pretended to no compulsive authority, but what
• came from the civil magistrate. Upon the whole
matter they concluded that the pope had no power
in England, and that the king had an entire dominion
over all his subjects, which extended even to the re*
gulation of ecclesiastical masters.,

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. £75

These questions being fully discussed in many dis-
putes, and published. in several books, all the bishops,
abbots, and friars of England, Fisher only excepted,
were so far satisfied with them, that they resolved to
comply with the changes the king was resolved to
make.

The Pope^s power rejected by Parliament

At the next meeting of parliament, there were but
seven bishops and twelve abbots present, the rest be-
ing unwilling to concur in making this change, though
they complied with it when it was made. Every
Sunday during the session a bishop preached at St.
Paul's, and declared that the pope had no authority
in England : before this, they had only said that a
general council was above them, and that the exac-
tions of this court, and appeals to it, were unlawful:
but now they went a strain higher, to prepare the
people for receiving the acts then in agitation. On
the 9th of March the commons began the bill for
taking away the pope's power, and sent it to the
lords on the 14th, who passed it on the 20th without
any dissent. In it they set forth the exactions of the
court of Rome, grounded on the pope's power of dis-
pensing- with the laws of the land ; and that there-
fore such licenses or dispensations as were formerly
in use, should be for the future granted by the two
archbishops ; some of these were to be confirmed
under the great seal ; and they appointed that there-
after all intercourse with Rome, on those subjects,
should cease. They also declared that they did not
intend to alter any article of the Catholic faith of
Christendom, or of that which was declared in the
scripture necessary to salvation. They confirmed
all the exemptions granted to monasteries by the
popes, but subjected them to the king's visitation,
and gave the king and his council power to examine
and reform all indulgences and privileges granted by
the pope. This act subjected the monasteries en-

276 w BOOK OF MARTYRS.

tirely to the king's authority, and put them in no small
confusion. Those who loved the reformation rejoiced
both to see the pope's power rooted out, and to find the
scripture made, the standard of religion.

After this act, another passed in both houses in six
days time, without any opposition, settling the suc-
cession of the crown, confirming the sentence of di-
vorce, and the king's marriage with queen Anne, and
declaring all marriages within the degrees prohibited
by Moses to be unlawful : all that had married with-
in them were appointed to be divorced, and their issue
illegitimated ; and the succession to the crown was
settled upon the king's issue by the present queen, or,
in. default of that, to the king's right heirs for ever.
All were required to swear to main Tain the contents of
this act ; and if any refused to swear to it, or should
say any thing to the slander of the king's marriage,
he was to be judged guilty of misprision of treason,
and to be punished accordingly.

The Reformers favoured by the Court.

The nobility and gentry were generally well satis-
fied with the change in ecclesiastical affairs: but the
body of the people, being more under the power of
the priests, were filled with great fears on the sub-
ject. It was said, amongst them, that the king now
joined himself to heretics ; that the queen, Cranmer,
and Cromwell, favoured them. It was left free to dis-
pute what were articles of faith, and what were only
the decrees of popes ; and the most important changes
might be made, under the pretence, that they only re-
jected those opinions which were supported by the
papal authority.

The monks and friars saw themselves left at the
king's mercy. Their bulls could be no longer use-
ful to them. The trade of new saints, or indulgen-
ces, was now at an end ; they had also some intima-
tions that Cromwell was forming a project for sup-
pressing theni : as they thought if necessary for their

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 277

\

own preservation to embroil the king's affaiis as
much as it was possible : therefore, both in confes-
sions and discourses, they laboured to infuse into the
people a dislike of his proceedings : but these prac-
tices at home, and the intrigues of cardinal Pole
abroad, the libels that were published, and the re-
bellions that were raised in England, wrought so
much on the king's temper, naturally imperious and
boisterous, that lie became too prone to acts of se-
verity, and this new title of head of the church seem-
ed to have increased his former vanity, and made
him fancy that all his subjects were bound to regu-
late their belief by the measures he set them. The
bishops and abbots did what they could to free the
king of any jealousies he might have of them ; and
of their own accord, before any law was made about
it, swore to maintain his supremacy.

General visitation of the Monasteries,

It was well known that the monks and friars,
though they complied with the time, yet hated this
new power of the king's; the people were also
startled at it : so one Dr. Leighton, who had been in
Wolsey's service with Cromwell, proposed a general
visitation of all religious houses in England ; and
thought that nothing would reconcile the nation so
much to the king's supremacy, as to see some good
effect flow from it. Others deemed this was too
bold a step, and feared it would provoke the religious
orders too much.. Yet it was known that they were
guilty of such disorders, as nothing could so effectu-
ally check as inquiry. Cranmer led the way to this
by a metropolitan visitation, for which he obtained
the king's license ; he took care to see that the
pope's name was struck out of all the offices of the
church, and that the king's supremacy was generally
acknowledged.

In October the general visitation of the monaste-
ries was begun ; and the visiters were instructed to

24

*

278 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

inquire, whether the houses had the full number ac-
cording to their foundation ? if they performed divine
worship at the t appointed hours'/ what exemptions
they had? what were their statutes? how their su-
periors were chosen ? whether they lived according
to the severities of their orders ? how their lands and
revenues were managed ? what hospitality was kept ?
what care was taken of the novices ? what benefices
were in their gift? and how they disposed of them?
how the enclosures of the nunneries were kept ?
whether the nuns went abroad, or if men were ad
mitted to come to them ? how they employed theii
time ? and what priests they had as their confessors ?

The visiters were also ordered to deliver some
injunctions in the king's name, as to his supremacy,
and the act of succession; and were authorized to
absolve every one from any rules or oaths of obedi-
ence to the pope.

They were also ordered to take care that the ab-
bots should not have choice dishes, but plain tables
for hospitality; and that the scriptures should be
read at meals ; that they should have daily lectures
of divinity ; and maintain some of every house at the
university, and to require that the abbot of each mo-
nastery should instruct the monks in true religion,
and show them that it did not consist in outward
ceremonies, but in clearness of heart, purity of life,
and the worshipping of God in spirit and truth. Rules
were given about their revenues, and against admit-
ting any under twenty years of age ; and the visiters
were empowered to punish offenders, or to bring
them to answer before the visiter-general.

The visiters went over England, and found in many
places monstrous disorders. The most horrible and
disgusting crimes were found to be practised in many
of the houses ; and vice and cruelty were more fre-
quently the inmates of these pretended sanctuaries
than religion and piety. The report contained many
abominable things, not fit to be mentioned : some of
these were printed, but the greater part was lost.

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 279

The first house that was surrendered to the king
was Langden, in Kent ; the abbot of which was found
in bed with a woman, who went in the habit of a lay
brother. To prevent greater evil to himself, he and
ten of his monks signed a resignation of their house
to the king. Two other monasteries in the same
county, Folkstone and Dover, followed their exam-
ple. And in the following year, four others made
th.3 like surrenders.

Rebellions in Lincolnshire and in Yorkshire.

In October 20,000 rose in Lincolnshire; they
complained of parliament suppressing many religious
houses, of mean and ill counsellors, also of bad
bishops. The king sent the duke of Suffolk to raise
forces against them, and gave an answer to their pe-
tition, that " it belonged not to the rabble to direct
princes what counsellors to choose ;" they made far-
ther demands, but they were all rejected by the
king ; he advised them to submit to his mercy, and
on the 9th Dec. he signed a proclamation of pardon,
without any restriction. As soon as this rebellion
was quelled, the king went on more resolutely than
ever in his design of suppressing the monasteries,
for his late success in crushing so formidable a sedi-
tion made him less apprehensive of any new commo-
tion ; a new visitation was appointed, and many
houses which had not been before dissolved, were
now suppressed : one hundred and twenty-one houses
were this year resigned to the king. In most houses
the visiters made the monks sign a confession of their
vices and disorders ; some of them acknowledged their
idleness, gluttony, and sensuality, and after all the
king put some of the Komish clergy to death, for
denying the supremacy of the king.

Impostures of Images and Relics discovered.

They disclosed to the world many impostures
about pretended relics, and wonderful images, to

230 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

which pilgrimages had been made. At Reading was
preserved the wing of an angel, who, according to
the monks, brought over the point of the spear that
pierced onr Saviour's side ; and as many pieces of
the real cross were found, as when joined together
would have made half a dozen.

The " Rood of Grace," at Boxley in Kent, had
been much esteemed, and drawn many pilgrims to it,
on account of its possessing the wonderful powers of
bowing its head, rolling its eyes, smiling, and frown-
ing, to the great astonishment and terror of the cre-
dulous multitude, who imputed it to a divine power :
but all this was now discovered to be a cheat, and
it was brought up to St. Paul's cross ; where all the
springs were shown by which its motions were
governed.

At Hales, in Gloucestershire, some of the blood
of Christ was shown in a vial ; and it was believed
none could see it who were in mortal sin. Those
who could bestow liberal presents were, of course,
gratified by being led to believe that they were in a
state of grace. This miracle consisted in the blood
of a duck renewed every week, put in a vial very
thick on one side, and thin on the other ; and either
side turned towards the pilgrim, as the priests were
satisfied or not with his oblations. Several other
similar impostures were discovered, which contribut-
ed much to the undeceiving of the people.

The rich shrine of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury
was destroyed, and an immense quantity of gold and
precious stones, offered by the deluded victims of
superstition in honour of that factious priest, and
" saint after the pope's own heart," were confiscated
and carried away.

When these proceedings were known at Rome,
the pope immediately fulminated against the king all
the thunders of his spiritual store-house; absolved
his subjects from their allegiance, and his allies from
their treaties with him; and exhorted alt Christians

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 281

to make war against and extirpate him from the face
of the earth. But the age of crusades was past, and
this display of impotent malice produced only con-
tempt in the minds of the king and his advisers, who
steadily proceeded in the great work of reformation ;
and, the translation of the Bible into English being
now completed, it was printed, and ordered to be read
in all churches, with permission for every person to
read it, who might be so disposed.

But, notwithstanding the king's disagreement with
the pope on many subjects, there was one point on
which they were alike — they were both intolerant,
furious bigots ; and while the former was excommu-
nicated as a heretic, he was himself equally zealous
in rooting out lieresy, and burning all who presumed
to depart from the standard of faith which he had
established.

Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, strengthened this
disposition of the king, and persuaded him, under
the pretext of a zeal for religion, to persecute the
Sacramentalists, or those who^denied the corporeal
presence in the sacrament.

The Act of the Six A?' tides.

The parliament accordingly met on the 28th of
April, 153S.; and, after long debates, passed what
was called " a bill of religion," containing six arti-
cles, by which it was declared, that the elements in
the sacrament were the real body and blood of Christ ;
that communion was necessary only in one kind ;
that priests ought not to marry ; that vows of chastity
ought to be^ODserved ; that private masses were law-
ful and useful ; and that auricular confession was
necessary.

This act gave great satisfaction to the popish party,
and induced them to consent more readily to the act
for suppressing the monasteries, which immediately
followed ; by virtue of which, their total dissolution
soon after took place. The king founded six new
21*

282 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

bishoprics from a small portion of their immense
revenues, and lavished the remainder on his profli-
gate courtiers and favourites.

In 1540 a bill was passed for tne suppression of
the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, both in Eng-
land and Ireland.

Queen Catherine was convicted of lewdness and
debauchery, and beheaded February 14th, 1541.

After this the king contracted a sixth marriage
with Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer ; but
dreading the fate of her predecessors, she concealed
her partiality for the true faith.

Attempts to suppress the Bible.

Great pains had been taken by the bishops to sup-
press the English Bible. The king refused to call
it in, and they therefore complained much of the
translation, which they wished to have condemned,
and a new one promised, which might have been
delayed during several years. Cranmer, perceiving
that the Bible was the great eye-sore of the popish
party, and that they were resolved to oppose it by
all the means they could think of, procured an order
from the king, referring the correction of the trans-
lation to the two universities. The bishops took this
very ill, and all of them, except those of Ely and St.
David's, protested against it.

Attempts to ruin Cranmer.

The chief thing now aimed at, by the whole popish
party, was Cranmer's ruin. Gardiner employed
many to infuse the belief into the king, that he gave
the chief encouragement to heresy in England, and
that it was in vain to lop off the branches, and leave
the root still growing. The king, before this, would
never hear the complaints that were made of him :
but now, to be informed of the depth of his design,
he was willing to make himself acquainted with all
that was to be said against him.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 283

Gardiner reckoned, that this point being gained, all
the rest would follow ; and judging that the king was
now alienated from him, more instruments and artifi-
ces than ever were made use of. A long paper, con-
taining many particulars against both Cranmer and
his chaplains, was put into the kings hands. Upon
this the king sent for him ; and after he had com-
plained much of the heresy in England, he said, he
resolved to find out the chief promoter of it, and to
make him an example.

Cranmer advised him first to consider well what
heresy was, that so he might not condemn those as
heretics, who maintained the true word of God
against human inventions. Then the king told him
frankly, that he was the man complained of, as most
guilty ; and showed him all the informations that he
had received against him.

Cranmer avowed that he was still of the same
mind as when he opposed the six articles, and sub-
mitted himself to a trial ; he confessed many things
to the king : in particular, that he had a wife ; but
he said he had sent her out of England, when the
act of the six articles was passed ; and expressed so
great a sincerity, and put so entire a confidence in
the king, that, instead of being ruined, he was now
better established with him than ever.

The king commanded him to appoint some per-
sons to examine the contrivance that had been laid to
destroy him ; he answered, that it was not decent for
him to nominate any to judge in a cause, in which
himself was concerned ; but the king being positive,
he named some to go about it, and the whole secret
was discovered. It appeared that Gardiner and Dr.
Loudon had been the chief instruments, and had en-
couraged informers to appear against him. Cranmer
did not press the king for any reparation ; for he was
so noted for his readiness to forgive injuries, and to
return good for evil, that it was commonly said, the
best way to obtain his favour, was to do him an in-

■284 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

jury ; of this he gave signal instances at this time,
both in relation to the clergy and laity ; by which it
appeared that he was actuated by that meek and
lowly spirit which becomes all the followers of
Christ, but more particularly one, who was so great
an instrument in reforming the Christian religion ;
and did, by such eminent acts of charity, show that
he himself practised that which he taught others
to do.

A parliament was now called, in which an act pro-
viding for the succession of the crown was passed.
By it prince Edward and his heirs, or the heirs of
the king's present marriage, were to succeed on the
decease of the king ; after them the lady Mary and
lady Elizabeth ; and in case they had no issue, or
did not observe such limitations or conditions as the
king should appoint, then it was to fall to any other
whom the king should name, either by his letters pa-
tent, or by his last will signed with his hand. An
oath was appointed both against the pope's suprema-
cy, and for the maintaining the succession according
to this act, which all are required to take, under the
pains of treason. It was made treason to say or
write any thing contrary to this act, or to the slan-
der of any of the king's heirs named in it.

Another bill was passed, qualifying the severity of
the six articles ; by which it was enacted that none
should be imprisoned but upon a legal presentment,
except upon the king's warrant. None was to be
challenged for words spoken, except the accusation
were brought within a year after the commission oi
the offence ; nor for a sermon, but within forty days.
This was made to prevent such conspiracies as had
been discovered during the former year.

Another act was passed, renewing the authority-
given to thirty-two commissioners to reform the ec-
clesiastical law, which Cranmer promoted much ;
and to advance so good a purpose, he drew out of
the canon law, a collection of many things against

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 285

the regal, and for the papal authority, with several
other very extravagant propositions, to show how im-
proper it was to let a book, in which such things
were, continue still in any credit in England: but
he could not bring this to any good issue. A gener-
al pardon also was granted, out of which heresy was
excepted.

Audley, the chancellor, dying at this time, Wrio-
thesly, who was of the popish party, was put in his
place : and Dr. Petre, Cranmer's friend, was made
secretary of state : so equally did the king keep the
balance between both parties. He gave orders also
to translate the prayers and litanies into the Eng-
lish tongue, which gave the reformers some hopes
that he had not quite cast oif his design of reforming
such abuses as had crept into the worship of God.
And they hoped that the reasons which prevailed
with the king to order this, would also induce him to
order a translation of all the other offices into the
English tongue.

Lee, archbishop of York, died about this time ; and
was succeeded by Holgate, bishop of LandafT, who,
in his heart, favoured the reformation. Kitchin, who
turned with every change, was made bishop of Lan-
dafF; Heath was removed from Rochester to Wor-
cester ; Holbeck was promoted to the see of Roches-
ter ; and Day to that of Chichester. All these were
moderate men, and well disposed to a reformation, or
at least to comply with it.

Story and Martyrdom of Anne Askeiu.

This lady was descended from a good family, and
had received an accomplished education ; she had
embraced the doctrines of the reformers with zeal,
and was taken into custody for her opinions, in March,
1545. She underwent several examinations touch-
ing the points of difference between the papists and

286 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

the protestants : in which she answered the insidi-
ous questions of her examiners with boldness and dis- -
cretion. After remaining some time in prison, appli-
cation was made by her relatives for her enlarge-
ment, and nothing being satisfactorily proved against
her, she was for a time set at liberty : but during the
following year, she was again apprehended, and was
at length brought to her trial at Guildhall. We tran-
scribe her own account of what took place on this in-
teresting occasion :

" The sum of ray condemnation at Guildhall.

" They said to me there, < that I was a heretic, and
condemned by the law, if I would stand in my opin-
ion. 5 I answered, ' That I was no heretic, neither
yet deserved I any death by the law of God. But as
concerning the faith which I uttered and wrote to the
council, I would not deny it, because I knew it true. 3
Then would they needs know if I would deny the
sacrament to be Christ's body and blood. I said,
1 Yea ; for the same Son of God, who was born of the
Virgin Mary, is now glorious in heaven, and will
come again from thence at the latter day like as he
went up — Acts i. And as for that ye call your God,
it is a piece of bread. For a more proof thereof, mark
it when you list, let it lie in the box but three months,
; and it will be mouldy, and so turn to nothing that is
good. Whereupon I am persuaded that it cannot be
God.'

"After that they willed me to have a priest ; at this
I smiled. Then they asked me if it were not good ;
I said, ' I would confess my faults unto God, for I
was sure he would hear me with favour.' And so
we were condemned.

"My belief, which I wrote to the council, was this,
that the sacramental bread was left to us to be re-
ceived with thanksgiving, in remembrance of Christ's

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 287

death, the only remedy of our souls' recovery ; and
that thereby we also receive the whole benefits and
fruits of his most glorious passion. Then would they
know whether the bread in the box were God or no :
I said, < God is a spirit, and will be worshipped in
spirit and in truth. John iv.' Then they demand-
ed, l Will you plainly deny Christ to be in the sacra-
ment?' I answered, < that I believe faithfully the
eternal Son of God not to dwell there ;' in witness
whereof I recited the 19th chapter of Daniel, the 7th
and 17th of the Acts, and the 24th of Matthew, con-
cluding thus,— £ I neither wish death, nor yet fear his
might; God have the praise thereof with thanks. 5

" My faith briefly written to the King's grace, and
sent by the hands of the Chancellor.

" I, Anne Askew, of good memory, although God
hath given me the bread of adversity, and the water
of trouble, yet not so much as my sins have deserved,
desire this to be known unto your grace, that foras-
much as I am by the law condemned for an evil doer,
here I take heaven and earth to record, that I shall
die in my innocency ; and according to that I have
said first, and will say last, I utterly abhor and detest
all heresies. And as concerning the supper of the
Lord, I believe so much as Christ hath said therein,
which he confirmed with his most blessed blood ; I
believe so much as he willed me to follow ; and be-
lieve so much as the Catholic church of him doth
teach. For I will not forsake the commandment of
his holy lips. But look what God hath charged me
with his mouth, that have I shut up in my heart.
And thus briefly I end, for lack of learning.

" Anne Askew.

288 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

"My examination and treatment after my departure
from Newgate.

u On Tuesday I was sent from Newgate to the
sign of the Crown, where Mr. Rich and the bishop
of London, with all their power and flattering words,
went about to persuade me from God ; but I did not
esteem their glossing pretences.

" Then came to me Nicholas Shaxton, and coun-
selled me to recant, as he had done. I said to him,
( That it had been good for him never to have been
born ;' with many other like words.

" Then Mr. Rich sent me to the Tower, where I
remained till three o'clock, when Rich came, and
one of the council, charging me upon my obedience
to show unto them if I knew any man or woman of
my sect. My answer was, { That I knew none.' Then
they asked me of lady Suffolk, lady Sussex, lady Hert-
ford, lady Denny, and lady Fitzwilliams. To whom
I answered, < If I should pronounce any thing against
them, that I were not able to prove it' Then said
they unto me, c That the king was informed that I
could name, if I would, a great number of my sect.'
I answered, ' That the king was as well deceived in.
that behalf, as he was dissembled with by them in
other matters.'

" Then they commanded me to show how I was
maintained in the Compter, and who willed me to
stick to my opinion. I said, < that there was no crea-
ture that therein did strengthen me. And as for the
help that I had in the Compter, it was by the means
of my maid. For as she went abroad in the streets,
she told my case to the apprentices, and they by her
did send me money : but who they were I ne^ef
knew.'

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 289

" Then they said, l That there were several ladies
that had sent me money.' I answered, ; That there
was a man in a blue coat who delivered me ten shil-
lings, and said that my lady of Hertford sent it me :
and another in a violet coat gave me eight shillings,
and said my lady Denny sent it me. Whether it
were true or no I cannot tell : for I am not sure who
sent it me, but as, the maid did say.' Then they said,
' There were some of the council who maintained
me.' I said, ( No.'

" Then did they put me on the rack, because I
confessed no ladies or gentlemen to be of my opinion,
and thereon they kept me a long time, and because I
lay still and did not cry, my lord chancellor and Air.
Rich took pains to rack me with their own hands till
I was nigh dead.

" The lieutenant, then caused me to be loosed from
the rack, when I immediately swooned, and they re-
covered me again. After that I sat two hours rea-
soning with my lord chancellor upon the bare floor,
where he with many flattering words persuaded me
to leave my opinions ; but my Lord Cod, I thank his
everlasting goodness, gave me grace to persevere, and
will do, I hope, to the very end,

" Then was I brought* to a house and laid in a
bed, with as weary and painful bones as ever had pa-
tient Job, I thank my Lord God therefor. Then my
lord chancellor sent m* word, if I would leave my
opinion I should want for nothing ; if 1 would not,
I should forthwith to Newgate, and so be burned. I
sent bhii again word, that I would rather die than
bieak my faith.

" Thus the Lord open the eyes of their blind hearts,
that the truth may take place. Farewell, dear friend,
and pray, pray, pray."

Her racking in the Tower, mentioned above, is
thus described. She was led down into a dungeon,
where Sir Anthony Knevet, the lieutenant, command-
25

290 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

ed his jailer to pinch her with the rack ; which be-
ing done, as much as he thought sufficient, he was
about to take her down, supposing that he had done
enough. But Wriothesley, the chancellor, not con-
tented that she should be loosed so soon, having con-
fessed nothing, commanded the lieutenant to strain
her on the rack again, which because he denied to
do, he was threatened by the chancellor, " That he
would signify his disobedience to the king ;" but re-
maining unmoved by their threats, Wriothesley and
Rich, throwing off their gowns, would needs play the
tormentors themselves, first asking her " if she were
with child?" To which she... answered, "Ye shall
not need to spare for that, but do your wills upon
me ;" and so quietly and patiently praying unto the
Lord, she sustained their cruelty, till her bones and
joints were almost torn asunder, so that she was
obliged to be carried away in a chair. When the
racking was past, the chancellor and Mr. Rich rode
off to the court.

In the mean time, while they were making their
way by land, the good lieutenant, taking boat, has-
tened to the court to speak with the king before the
others, which he did ; and desiring his pardon, told
him the whole matter respecting the racking of Mrs.
Askew, and the threats of the lord chancellor, " be-
cause at his commandrr^rjt, not knowing his high-
nesses pleasure, he refused tcr^clc her, which he for
compassion could not find in his rr^att to do, and
therefore desired his high tress's pardon ; w^iqh when
the king had heard, he seemed not much to approve
their severity ; and granted the lieutenant his par-
don.

While Mrs. Askew was confined in Newgate, she
made the following confession of her faith : " I,
Anne Askew, of good memory, although my merciful
Father hath given me the bread of adversity, and the
water of trouble, yet not so much as my sins have

Anne Askew.— Page 29U.

Martyrdom of George Wishart — Page 317.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 291

deserved, do confess myself here a sinner before the
throne of his heavenly majesty, desiring his forgive-
ness and mercy. And for so much as I am by the
law unrighteously condemned for an evil doer, con-
cerning opinions, I take the same most merciful God
of mine, which hath made both heaven and earth, to
record that 1 hold no opinions contrary to his most
holy word ; and I trust in my merciful Lord, which
is the giver of all grace, that he will graciously assist
me against all evil opinions which are contrary to his
blessed verity ; for I take him to witness that I have
done, and will, unto my life's end, utterly abhor them
io the uttermost of my power.

" But this is the heresy which they report me to
hold, that after the priest hath spoken the words of
consecration, there remaineth bread still. They both
say, and also teach it for a necessary article of faith,
that after these words be once spoken, there remain-
eth no bread, but even the self-same body that hung
upon the cross on Good Friday, both flesh, blood,
and bone. To this belief of theirs say I, Nay. For
then were our common creed false, which saith, that
he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al-
mighty, and from thence shall come to judge the quick
and the dead. Lo, this is the heresy that I hold, and
for it must suffer the death. But as touching the
holy and blessed supper of the Lord, I believe it to
be a most necessary remembrance of his glorious suf-
ferings and death. Moreover, I believe as much there-
in as my eternal and only Redeemer Jesus Christ
would I should believe.

" Finally, I believe all those scriptures to be true,
which he hath confirmed with his most precious
blood ; yea, and as St. Paul saith, those scriptures
are sufficient for our learning and salvation, that
Christ hath left here with us ; so that I believe, we
need no unwritten verities to rule his church with.
Therefore, look what he hath said unto me with his
own mouth in his holy gospel, that I have with God's

292 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

grace closed up in my heart, and my full trust is (as
David saith) that it shall be a lantern to my foot-
steps, Psalm xxviii.

"There be some that say I deny the eucharist, or
sacrament of thanksgiving ; but those people untruly
report of me ; for I both say and believe it, that if
it were ordered as Christ instituted it and left it, a
most singular comfort it were unto us all. But as
concerning the mass as it is now used in our days, I
say and believe it to be the most abominable idol that
is in the world. For my God will not be eaten with
teeth j neither yet dieth he again ; and upon these
words that I have now spoken, will I suffer death.

" O Lord 1 I have more enemies now than there
be hairs on my head ; yet, Lord ! let them never
overcome me with vain words, but fight thou, Lord !
in my stead, for on thee cast I my care. With all
the spite they can imagine, they fall upon me, who
am thy poor creature. Yet, sweet Lord ! let me not
set by them which are against me, for in thee is my
whole delight ; and, Lord ! I heartily desire of thee,
that thou wilt of thy most merciful goodness forgive
them that violence which they do, and have done
unto me. Open also thou their blind hearts, that
they may hereafter do that thing in thy sight which
is only acceptable before thee, and to set forth thy
verity aright, without all vain fantasy of sinful men.
So be it, O Lord ! so be it. Anne Askew."

We have thought it advisable to give so much of
this lady's own writings, as they afford very strong
evidence of her faith, and zeal for the cause of truth.
To this sacred cause she was now about to give the
last and highest proof of her attachment, by yielding
up her life at the stake, as a token of her devotion -
to the pure religion of Jesus, and her abhorrence of
the devices and inventions of the papists.

On the day appointed for her execution, she was
brought to Smithfield in a chair, being unable to walk,

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 293

from the effects of the tortures which she had under-
gone. When she arrived at the stake, she was fas-
tened to it by a chain round her body. Three oth-
er persons were brought to suffer with her, for the
same offence. These were, Nicholas Belenian, a
priest, of Shropshire ; John Adams, a tailor 5 and
John Lacels, a gentleman of the king's household.

The martyrs being all chained to the stake, Dr.
Shaxton, who was appointed to preach, began his
sermon ; and as he proceeded, Atme Askew, with
undiminished spirit, either confirmed or contradicted
him, according to the truth or falsehood of his quo-
tations and inferences.

The sermon being concluded, the martyrs began
their prayers. The concourse of spectators was im-
mense, and on a bench near the stake sat the lord
chancellor, the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Bedford,
the lord mayor, and other persons of consideration.
The chancellor sent to Anne Askew letters, offering
to her the king's pardon if she would recant ; but
she, refusing even to look upon them, made this an-
swer : " That she came not thither to deny her Lord
and master." Then the letters were likewise offer-
ed to the others, who, imitating the constancy of the
woman, refused not only to receive them, but also to
look upon them, and continued to cheer and exhort
each other to be firm to the end of their sufferings,
and so to deserve the glory they were about to en-
ter ; whereupon the lord mayor, commanding fire to
be put to them, cried with a loud voice, " fiat jus-
titiaP

And thus these blessed martyrs were compassed in
with flames of fire, and offered up as sacrifices unto
God.

Designs against Cranmer.

These events were so many triumphs to the popish
party, who, stimulated by fresh hopes, sought to com
plete their victory by effecting the ruin of Cranmei

25*

294- EOOK OF MARTYRS.

and the queen, whom they considered the greatest
obstacles to their success. They persuaded the king
that Cranmcr was the source of all the heresies in
England ; but Henry's esteem for him was such,
that no one would appear to give evidence against
him ; they therefore desired that he might be com-
mitted to the Tower, and then it would appear how
many would inform against him.

The king seemed to approve this plan, and they
resolved to execute it the next day : but in the night
Henry sent for Cranmer, and told him what was re-
solved concerning him. Cranmer thanked the king
for giving him notice of it, and submitted to it, only
desiring that he might be heard in answer for him-
self ; and that he might have impartial judges, com-
petent to decide. Henry was surprised to see him
so little concerned in his own preservation ; but told
him, since he took so little care of himself, that he
must take care of him. He therefore gave him in-
structions to appear before the council, and to desire
to see his accusers before he should be sent to the
Tower ; and that he might be used by them, as they
would desire to be used in a similar case ; and, if he
could not prevail by the force of reason, then he was
to appeal to the king in person, and was to show the
royal seal ring, which he took from his finger and
gave him, which they would know so well that they
would do nothing after they once saw it.

Accordingly, on being summoned next morning,
he came over to Whitehall ; there he was detained,
with great insolence, in the lobby of the council
chamber before he was called in ; but when that
was done, and he had acted as the king had ordered
him, and at last showed the ring, his enemies rose in
great confusion, and went to the king. He upbraid-
ed them severely for what they had done, and ex-
pressed his esteem and kindness for Cranmer in
such terms, that they were glad to get off, by pre-
tending that they had no other design, but that of

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 295

having his innocence declared by a public trial
From this vain attempt they were so convinced of
the king's unalterable favour to him, that they for-
bore any further designs against him.

But what they could not effect against Cranmer,
they thought might be more safely tried against the
queen, who was known to love the " new learning 1"
as the reformation was then called. She used to
have sermons in her privy chamber, which could not
be so secretly carried, but that it came to the know-
ledge of her royal spouse ; yet her conduct in all
other things was so exact, and she expressed such
a tender care of the king's person, that it was ob-
served she had gained much upon him ; but his peev-
ishness growing with his distempers, made him some-
times impatient even to her.

He used often to talk with her of matters of reli-
gion, and sometimes she sustained the argument for
the reformers so strenuously, that he was offended
at it; yet as soon as that appeared she let it fall.
But once the debate continuing long, the king ex-
pressed his displeasure at it to Gardiner, when she
went away. The crafty bishop took hold of this op-
portunity to persuade the king that she was a great
cherisher of heretics. Wriothesly joined with him
in the same artifice ; and filled the angry king's head
with suspicions, insomuch that he signed the articles
upon which she was to be impeached. But the
chancellor carelessly dropping the paper, it happen-
ed to be taken up by one of the queen's friends, who
carried it to her.

The next night, after supper, she went into the
king's bedchamber, where she found him sitting and
talking with certain gentlemen. He very courteously
welcomed her, and breaking off his talk with the
gentlemen, began of himself, contrary to his usual
manner, to enter into talk of religion, seeming, as it
were, desirous to hear the queen's opinion on certain
matters which he mentioned.

296 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The queen, perceiving to what this tended, mildly,
and with much apparent deference, answered him as
follows :

"Your Majesty," says she, "doth right well know,
neither am I myself ignorant, what great imperfec-
tion and weakness by our first creation is allotted
unto us women, to be ordained and appointed as in-
ferior, and subject unto man as our head, from which
head all our direction ought to proceed ; and that
as God made man to his own shape and likeness,
whereby he, being endued with more special gifts
of perfection, might rather be stirred to the con-
templation of heavenly things, and to the earnest
endeavour to obey his commandments ; even so also
made he woman of man, of whom, and by whom,
she is to be governed, commanded, and directed;
whose womanly weaknesses and natural imperfection
ought to be tolerated, aided, and borne withal, so
that by his wisdom such things as be lacking in her
ought to be supplied.

" Since thence, therefore, that God hath appoint-
ed such a natural difference between man and woman,
and your majesty being so excellent in gifts and or-
naments of wisdom, and I a silly poor woman, so
much inferior in all respects of nature unto you, how
then cometh it now to pass that your majesty, in such
diffuse causes of religion, will seem to require my
judgment? which, when 1 have uttered and said
what I can, yet must I,- and will I, refer my judgment
in this, and in all other cases, to your majesty's wis-
dom, as my only anchor, supreme head and governor
here on earth, next unto God to lean unto."

" Not so, by Saint Mary/ 7 replied the king; u you
are become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us, (as we
take it,) and not to be instructed or directed by us."

" If your majesty take it so," said the queen, " then
hath your majesty very much mistaken, who have
ever been of the opinion, to think it very unseemly
and preposterous for the woman to take upon her

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 297

the office of an instructer or teacher to her lord and
husband, but rather to iearn of her husband, and to
be taught by him ; and where I have, with your ma-
jesty's leave, heretofore been bold to hold talk with
your majesty, wherein sometimes in opinions there
hath seemed some difference, T have not done it so
much to maintain opinion, as I did rather to minis-
ter talk, not only to the end your majesty might with
less grief pass over this painful time of your infirmity,
being intentive to your talk, and hoping that your
majesty should reap some ease thereby; but also
that. I, hearing your majesty's learned discourse,
might receive to myself some profit thereby; where-
in, I assure your majesty, I have not missed any part
of my desire in that behalf, always referring myself
in all such matters unto your majesty, as by ordinance
of nature it is convenient for me to do,"

"And is it even so, sweetheart?" cried the king;
" and tended your arguments to no worse end ? Then
perfect friends we are now again, as ever at any time
heretofore." And as he sat in his chair, embracing
her in his arms, and kissing her, he added, that " it
did him more good at that time to hear those words
of her own mouth, than if he had heard present news
of a hundred thousand pounds in money fallen unto
him ;" and with tokens of great joy, and promises and
assurances never again to mistake her, he entered in-
to very pleasant discourse with the queen, and the
lords and gentlemen standing by ; and at last (the
night being far advanced,) he gave her leave to de-
part. And after she was gone^ he greatly commended
and praised her.

The time formerly appointed for her being taken
into custody being come, the king, waited upon by
two gentlemen only of his bed-chamber, went into
the garden, whither the queen also came, (being sent
for by the king himself) with three ladies attending
her. Henry immediately entered into pleasant con-
versation with the queen and attendants ; when sud-

298 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

denly, in the midst of their mirth, the lord chancel-
lor came into the garden with forty of the king's
guards, intending to have taken the queen, together
with the three ladies, to the Tower. The king, stern-
ly beholding them, broke off his mirth with the queen,
and stepping a little aside, called the chancellor to
him, who upon his knees spake to the king, but what
he said is not well known : it is, however, certain
that the king's reply to him was, " Knave ! yea, ar-
rant knave, beast and fool !" and then he command-
ed him presently to begone out of his presence : which
words, being vehemently spoken by the king, the
queen and her ladies overheard them.

The king, after the departure of the chancellor
and his guards, immediately returned to the queen ;
when she, perceiving him to be very much irritated,
endeavoured to pacify him with kind words, in be-
half of the lord chancellor, with whom he seemed to
be offended, saying, " That albeit she knew not what
just cause his majesty had at that time to be offend-
ed with him, yet she thought that ignorance, not
wilfulness, was the cause of his error."

"Ah, , poor soul," replied the king, "thou little
knowesthow ill he deserveth this grace at thy hands.
On my word, sweetheart, he hath been towards thee
an arrant knave, and so let him go." Thus the de-
sign against her was frustrated, and Gardiner, who
had promoted it, lost the king's favour entirely.

The King's Sickness and Death.

The king's distemper had been long growing upon
him. He was become so corpulent that he could not
go up and down stairs, but was let down and drawn
up by an engine, when he intended to walk in his
garden. He had an ulceration in his leg, which gave
him much pain, the humours of his body discharging
themselves that way, till at last a dropsy came on.

He had grown so fierce and cruel, that those about
him were afraid to let him know that his death seem-

PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION. 299

ed near, lest they might have been adjudged guilty
of treason, in foretelling his death !

His will was made ready and signed by him on
the 30th of December. He ordered Gardiner's name
to be. struck out from the list of his executors. When
Sir Anthony Brown endeavoured to persuade him not
to put that disgrace on an old servant, he continued
positive in it ; for he said " he knew his temper, and
could govern him ; but it would not be in the power
of others to do it, if he were put in so high a trust."
The most material thing in the will was, the prefer-
ring the children of his second sister, by Charles
Brandon, duke of Suffolk, to the children of his
eldest sister the queen of Scotland, in the succession
to the crown. On his death-bed he finished the foun-
dation of Trinity College in Cambridge, and of
Christ's Hospital, near Newgate ; yet this last was
not fully settled, till his son completed what he had
begun.

On the 27th of January, 1547, his spirits sunk, and
it vvas evident that he had not long to live. Sir An-
thony Denny took the courage to tell him that death
was approaching, and desired him to call on God for
his mercy. He expressed in general his sorrow for
.his past sins, and his trust in the mercies of God in
Christ Jesus. He ordered Cranmer to be sent for,
but was speechless before he arrived; yet he gave a
sign that he understood what he said to him, and
soon after died, in the 56th year of his age, after he
had reigned thirty-seven years and nine months. His
death was concealed three days; and the parliament
continued to sit till the 31st of January, when his de-
cease was made public. It is probable the Seymours,
uncles to the young king, concealed it so long, till
they made a party for securing the government ia
their own hands.

The severities Henry used against many of his sub-
jects, in matters of religion, made both sides write
with great sharpness against him; his temper was

300 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

imperious and cruel ; he was sudden and violent in
his passions, and hesitated at nothing hy which he
could gratify either his lust or his revenge. This
was much provoked by the sentence of the pope
against him, by the virulent books cardinal Pole and
others published, by the rebellions that were raised
in England by the popish clergy, and the apprehen-
sions he was in of the emperor's greatness, together
with his knowledge of the fate of those princes,
against whom the popes had thundered in former
times; all which made him think it necessary to keep
his people under the terror of a severe government ;
and by some public examples to secure the peace of
the nation, and thereby to prevent a more profuse
effusion of blood, which might have otherwise fol-
lowed, if he had been more gentle ; and it was no
wonder if, after the pope deposed him, he proceeded
to great severities against all who supported the pa
pal authority.

Almost the last act of his life was one of barbarous
ingratitude and monstrous tyranny. This was the
execution of the earl of Surry, a "brave and accom-
plished nobleman, who had served him with ?eal
and fidelity, but was now sacrificed to the groundless
suspicions of this gloomy tyrant, on the pretence of
his having assumed the arms of Edward the Con-
fessor, which, from his being related to the royal fami-
ly, he had a right to do, and which he had done, dur-
ing many years, without offence. Not. satisfied with
the death of this nobleman, the blood-thirsty despot,
now tottering on the brink of the grave, determined
to complete his worse than savage barbarity, by bring-
ing to the block the aged duke of Norfolk, father of
his former victim, who had spent a long life, and ex-
pended a princely fortune, in his service. There be-
ing no charge on which to found an impeachment
against him, a parliament was summoned to attaint
him ; and so well did these servile wretches fulfil
their inhuman master's expectations, that the bill of

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 301

attaindei was passed in both houses in the short space
of seven days ; and the royal assent being given by
commission, January 27, the duke was ordered for
execution on the next morning ; but in the course of
the night, the king was himself summoned before the
tribunal of the eternal Judge.

SECTION IV.

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND DURING THE 15TH AND
PART OF THE 16th CENTURY.

Having brought our account of the sufferings and
martyrdoms of the English reformers down to the
death of Henry the Eighth, we shall now proceed to
relate the cruel persecutions of God's faithful ser-
vants in Scotland, to the same period ; but it will
previously be necessary to give a short sketch of the
progress of the reformation in that country.

The long alliance between Scotland and France
had rendered the two nations extremely attached to
each other ; and Paris was the place where the learn-
ed of Scotland had their education. Yet early in
the fifteenth century, learning was more encouraged
in Scotland, and universities were founded in several
of the episcopal sees. About the same time some of
Wickliffe's followers began to show themselves in
Scotland ; and an Englishman, named Resby, was
burnt in 1407, for teaching some opinions contrary
to the pope's authority.

Some years after that, Paul Craw, a Bohemian,
who had been converted by Huss, was burnt for in-
fusing the opinions of that martyr into some persons
at St. Andrew's.

Life, stiff erings, and martyrdom of George Wishart.
Mr. George Wishart was born in Scotland, and af-
ter receiving a grammatical education at a private
school, he left that place, and finished his studies at
the university at Cambridge.
2G .

302 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

The following character of him, during his resi-
dence at that university, was written by one of his
scholars, and contains so just a picture of this excel-
lent man, that we give it at length.

" About the year of our Lorcl 1543, there was in
the university of Cambridge one Mr. George Wishart,
commonly called Mr. George of Bennet's college,
who was a man of tall stature, bald-headed, and on
the same wore a round French cap ; judged to be of
melancholy complexion by his physiognomy, black-
haired, long-bearded, comely of personage, well spo-
ken after his country of Scotland, courteous, lowly,
lovely, glad to teach, desirous to learn, and was well
travelled : having on him for his habit of clothing,
never but a mantle of frieze gown to the shoes, a
black millian fustian doublet, and plain black hose,
coarse new canvass for his shirts, and white falling
bands and cuffs at his hands. All the which apparel
he gave to the poor, some weekly, some monthly,
some quarterly, as he liked, saving his French cap,
which he kept the whole year of my being with him.

" He was a man modest, temperate, fearing God,
hating covetonsness ; for his charity had never end,
night, noon, nor day ; he forbore one meal in three,
one day in four, for the most part, except something
to comfort nature. He lay hard upon a puff of straw,
and coarse new canvass sheets, which when he
changed he gave away. He had commonly by his bed-
side a tub of water, in the which (his people being in
bed, the candle put out and all quiet) he used to bathe
himself, as 1, being very young, being assured, often
heard him, and in one light night discerned him. He
loved me tenderly, and I him, for my age, as effec-
tually. He taught with great modesty and gravity,
so that some of his people thought him severe, and
would have slain him, but the Lord was his defence.
And he, after due correction for their malice, by
good exhortation amended them and went his way.
O that the Lord had left him to me his poor bo}r, that

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 303

he might have finished that he had begun ! for in his
religion he was as you see here in the rest of his life,
when he went into Scotland with divers of the nobi-
lity, that came for a treaty to king Henry the Eighth.
His learning was no less sufficient than his desire ;
always pressed and ready to do good in that he was
able, both in the house privately, and in the school
publicly, professing and reading divers authors.

" If I should declare his love to me, and all men,
his charity to the poor, in giving, relieving, caring,
helping, providing, yea, infinitely studying how to do
good unto all, and hurt to none, I should sooner want
words than just cause to commend him.

" All this I testify with my whole heart, and truth,
of this godly man. He that made all, governeth all,
and shall judge all, knoweth that I speak the truth,
that the simple may be satisfied, the arrogant con-
founded, the hypocrite disclosed.

" Emery Tylney."

In order to improve himself as much as possible
in the knowledge of literature, he travelled into va-
rious foreign countries, where lie distinguished him-
self for his great learning and abilities, both in phi-
losophy and divinity. His desire to promote true
knowledge and science among men, accompanied the
profession of it himself. He was very ready to com-
municate what he knew to others, and frequently
read various authors, both in his own chamber and
in the public schools.

After being some time abroad, he returned to Eng-
land, and took np his residence at Cambridge, where
he was admitted a member of Bennet college. Hav-
ing taken his degrees, he entered into holy orders,
and expounded the gospel in so clear and intelligible
a manner, as highly to. delight his numerous auditors.

Being desirous of propagating the true gospel in
his own country, he left Cambridge in 1541, and in
his way to Scotland preached in most of the princi-
pal towns, to the great satisfaction of his hearers.

304 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

On his arrival in his native land, he first preached
at Montrose, and afterwards at Dundee. In this
last place he made a public exposition of the epistle
to the Romans, which he went through with so much
grace, eloquence, and freedom, as delighted the re-
formers, and alarmed the papists.

In consequence of this exposition, one Robert
Miln, a principal man of Dundee, went, by com-
mand of cardinal Beaton, to the church, where Wis-
hart preached, and in the midst of his discourse pub-
licly told him " not to trouble the town any more, for
he was determined not to suffer it.' 7

This treatment greatly surprised Wishart, who, af-
ter a short pause, looking sorrowfully on the speaker
and audience, said, " God is my witness, that I never
intended your trouble, but your comfort ; yea, your
trouble is more grievous to me, than it is to your*
selves ; but I am assured, to refuse God's word,
and to chase from you his messenger, shall not pre-
serve you from trouble, but shall bring you into it ;
for God shall send you ministers that -shall neither
fear burning nor banishment. I have offered you the
word of salvation. With the hazard of my life I have
remained among yon : now ye yourselves refuse me ;
and I must leave my innocence to be declared by my
God. If it be long prosperous with you, I am not
led by the spirit of truth ; but if unlooked-for trouble
come upon you, acknowledge the cause, and turn to
God, who is gracious and merciful. But if you turn
not at the first warning, he will visit you with fire
and sword." At the close of this speech he left the
pulpit, and retired.

After this he went into the west of Scotland, where
he preached God's word, which was gladly received
by many ; till the archbishop of Glasgow, at the in-
stigation of cardinal Beaton, came, with his train, to
the town of Ayr, to suppress Wishart, and insisted
on having the church to preach in himself. Some
opposed this ; but Wishart said, " Let him alone, his

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 305

sermon will not do much hurt ; let us go to the mar-
ket-cross." This was agreed to, and Wishart preach-
ed a sermon that gave universal satisfaction to his
hearers, and at the same time confounded his ene-
mies.

He continued to propagate the gospel with the
greatest alacrity, preaching sometimes in one place,
and sometimes in another ; but coming to Macklene,
he was. by force, kept out of the church. Some of
his followers would have broken in ; upon which he
said to one of them, " Brother, Jesus Christ is as
mighty in the fields as in the church ; and himself
often preached in the desert, at the seaside, and other
places. The like word of peace God sends by me ;
the blood of none shall be shed this day for preach-
ing it."

He then went into the fields, where he preached
to the people for above three hours ; and such an
impression did his sermon make on the minds of his
hearers, that many of the most wicked men in the
country became converts to the truth of the gospel.

A short time after this, Mr. Wishart received in-
telligence, that the plague was broke out in Dundee.
It began four days after he was prohibited from
preaching there, and raged so extremely, that incredi-
ble numbers died in the space of twenty-four hours.
This being related to him, he, notwithstanding the
persuasions of his friends, determined to £0 thither,
sayinof, " They are now in trouble, and need com-
fort. Perhaps this hand of God will make them
now to magnify and reverence the word of God,
which before they lightly esteemed."

Here he was with joy received by the godly. He
chose the East gate for the place of preaching ; so
that the healthy were within, and the sick without
the gate. He took his text from these words, " He
sent his word and healed them," &c. In this sermon
he chiefly dwelt upon the advantage and comfort of
God's word, the judgments that ensue upon the con
2G*

30G BOOK OF MARTYRS.

tempt or rejection of it, the freedom of God's grace
to all his people, and the happiness of those of his
elect, whom he takes to himself out of this miserable
world. The hearts of his hearers were so raised by
the divine force of this discourse, as not to regard
death, but to judge them the more happy who should
then be called, not knowing whether they might have
such a comforter again with them.

After this the plague abated ; though, in the midst
of it, Wishart constantly visited those that lay in the
greatest extremity, and comforted them by his ex-
hortations.

When he took leave of the people of Dundee, he
said, "That God had almost put an end to that
plague, and that he was now called to another place."

He went from thence to Montrose, where he
sometimes preached, but spent most of his time in
private meditation and prayer.

It is said, that before he left Dundee, and while
he was engaged in the labours of love to the bodies,
as well as to the souls, of those poor afflicted people
cardinal Beaton engaged a desperate popish priest,
called John Weigh ton, to kill him ; the attempt to
execute which was as follows : one day, after Wis
hart had finished his sermon, and the people depart-
ed, the priest stood waiting at the bottom of the
stairs, with a naked dagger in his hand under his
gown. But Mr. Wishart, having a sharp, piercing
eye, and seeing the priest as became from the pulpit,
said to him, " My friend, what would you have V
And immediately clapping his hand upon the dagger,
took it from him. The' priest, being terrified, fell
on his knees, confessed his intention, and craved
pardon. A noise being hereupon raised, and it com-
ing to the ears of those who were sick, they cried,
" Deliver the traitor to us, we will take him by
force ;" and they burst in at the gate. But Wishart,
taking the priest in his arms, said, " Whatsoever
hurts him, shall hurt me; for he hath done me no

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 30?

mischief, but much good, by teaching me more heed-
fulness for the time to come." By this conduct he
appeased the people, and saved the life of the wicked
priest.

Soon after his return to Montrose, the cardinal
again conspired his death, causing a letter to be sent
to him as if it had been from his familiar friend, the
laird of Kinnier, in which he was desired, with all
possible speed, to come to him, because he was taken
with a sudden sickness. In the mean time the card-
inal had provided sixty armed men, to lie in wait
within a mile and a half of Montrose, in order to
murder him as he passed that way.

The letter coming to Wishart's hand by a boy ;
who also brought him a horse for the journey, Wis-
hart, accompanied by some of his friends, set forward ;
but something particular striking his mind by the
way, he returned back, which they wondering at,
asked him the cause ; to whom he said, " I will not
go ; I am forbidden of God ; I am assured there is
treason. Let some of you go to yonder place, and
tell me what you find." They accordingly went,
discovered the assassins, and hastily returning, they
told Mr. Wishart; whereupon he said, "I know I
r iiall end my life by that blood-thirsty man's hands,
but it will not be in this manner."

A short time after this he left Montrose, and pro-
ceeded to Edinburgh, in order to propagate the gos-
pel in that city. By the way he lodged with a faith-
ful brother, called James Watson, of Inner-Goury.
In the middle of the night he got up, and went into
the yard, which two men hearing, they privately fol-
lowed him.

While in the yard he fell on his knees, and prayed
for some time with the greatest fervency ; after which
he arose, and returned to his bed. Those who at-
tended him, appearing as though they were ignorant
of all, came and asked him where he had been ? But
he would not answer them. The next clav thev im

308 BOOK OF MARTVRS.

portuned him to tell them, saying, " Be plain with us,
for we heard your mourning, and saw your gestures/'

On this he, with a dejected countenance, said, " I
had rather you had been in your beds. 55 But they
still pressing upon him to know something, he said,
" I will tell you ; I am assured that my warfare is
near at an end, and therefore pray to God with me,
that 1 shrink not when the battle waxcth most hot/ 5
When they heard this they wept, saying, " This is
small comfort to us. 5 '— "'Then," said he, " God
shall send you comfort after me. This realm shall
be illuminated with the light of Christ's gospel, as
clearly as any realm since the days of the apostles.
The house of God shall be built in it ; yea, it shall
not lack, in despite of all enemies, the top-stone ;
neither will it be long before this be accomplished.
Many shall not suffer after me, before the glory of
God shall appear, and triumph in despite of Satan.
But, alas, if the people afterwards shall prove un-
thankful, then fearful and terrible will be the plagues
that shall follow."

The next day he proceeded on his journey, and
when he arrived at Leith, not meeting those he ex-
pected, he kept himself retired for a day or two,
He then grew pensive, and being asked the reason,
he answered, " What do I differ from a dead man 'I
Hitherto God hath used my labours for the instruc-
tion of others, and to the disclosing of darkness ; and
now I lurk as a man ashamed to show his face." His
friends perceived that his desire was to preach,
whereupon they said to him, " It is most comfortable
for us to hear you, but because we know the danger
wherein you stand, we dare not desire it." He re-
plied, " If you dare hear, let God provide for me as
best pleaseth him :" after which it was concluded,
that the next day he should preach at Leith. His
text was from the parable of the sower, Matt. xiii.
The sermon ended, the gentlemen of Lothian, who
were earnest professors of Jesus Christ, would not

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 309

Buffer him to stay at Leith, because the governor and
cardinal were shortly to come to Edinburgh ; but
took him along with them ; and he preached at Bran-
stone, Longniddry, and Ormistone. He also preach-
ed at Inveresk, near Muselburg : he had a great con-
course of people, and amongst them Sir George
Douglass, who after sermon said publicly, " I know
that the governor and cardinal will hear that I have
been at this sermon ; but let them know that I will
avow it, and will maintain both the doctrine and the
preacher, to the utmost of my power."

Among others that came to hear him preach, there
were two gray-friars, who, standing at the church
door, whispered to such as came in ; which "Wishart
observing, said to the people, " I pray you make
room for these two men, it may be they come to
learn ;" and turning to them, he said, " Come near,
for I assure you, you shall hear the word of truth,
which this day shall seal up to you either your salva-
tion or damnation :" after which he proceeded in
his sermon, supposing that they would be quiet ; but
when he perceived that they still continued to disturb
the people that stood near them, he said to them the
second time, with an angry countenance, " O minis-
ters of Satan, and deceivers of the souls of men, will
ye neither hear God's truth yourselves, nor suffer
others to hear it ? Depart, and take this for your
portion ; God shall shortly confound and disclose
your hypocrisy within this kingdom ; ye shall be
abominable to men, and your places and habitations
shall be desolate." He spoke this with much vehe-
mency ; then turning to the people, said, " These men
have provoked the spirit of God to anger;" after
which he proceeded in his sermon, highly to the
satisfaction of his hearers.

From hence he went and preached at Branstone,
Languedine, Ormistone, and Inveresk, where he was
followed by a great concourse of people. He preach-
ed also in many other places, the people flocking

310 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

after him ; and in all his sermons he foretold the short
ness of the time he had to travel, and the near ap-
proach of his death. When he came to Haddington,
his auditory began much to decrease, which was
thought to happen through the influence of the earl
of Both well, who was moved to oppose him, at the
instigation of the cardinal. Soon after this, as he
was going to church, he received a letter from the
west country gentlemen, which having read, he called
John Knox, who had diligently waited on him since
his arrival at Lothian ; to whom he said, " He was
weary of the world, because he saw, that men began
to be weary of God : for," said he, " the gentlemen
of the west have sent me word, that they cannot keep
their meeting at Edinburgh."

Knox, wondering he should enter into conference
about these things, immediately before his sermon,
contrary to his usual custom, said to him, " Sir, ser
mon-time approaches ; I will leave you for the pre
sent to your meditations."

Wishart's sad countenance declared the grief of
his mind. At length he went into the pulpit, and his
auditory being very small, he introduced his sermon
with the following exclamation: "O Lord! how long
shall it be, that thy holy word shall be despised, and
men shall not regard their own salvation 1 1 have
heard of thee, O Haddington, that in thee there used
to be two or three thousand persons at a vain and
wicked play; and now, to hear the messenger of the
eternal God, of all the parish can scarce be number-
ed one hundred present. Sore and fearful shall be
the plagues that shall ensue upon this thy contempt.
With fire and sword shalt thou be plagued; yea, thou
Haddington in special, strangers shall possess thee ;
and ye, the present inhabitants, shall either in bond-
age serve your enemies, or else ye shall be chased
from your own habitations ; and that because ye
have not known, nor will know, the time of your
visitation."

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 311

This prediction was, in a great measure, accom-
plished not long after, when the English took Had-
dington, made it a garrison, and forced many of the
inhabitants to flee. Soon after this, a dreadful plague
broke out in the town, of which such numbers died,
that the place became almost depopulated.

Cardinal Beaton, being informed that Wishart was
at the house of Mr. Cockburn, of Ormiston, in East-
Lothian, applied to the regent to cause him to be ap-
prehended ; with which, after great persuasion, and
much against his will, he complied.

The earl accordingly went, with proper attendants,
to the house of Mr. Cockburn, which he beset about
midnight. The master of the house being greatly
alarmed, put himself in a posture of defence, when
the earl told him that it was in vain to resist, for the
governor and cardinal were within a mile, with a
great power ; but if he would deliver Wishart to him,
he would promise upon his honour that he should
be safe, and that the cardinal should not hurt him.
Wishart said, " Open the gates, the will of God be
done ;" and Bothwell coming in, Wishart said to him,
" I praise my God, that so honourable a man as you,
my lord, receive me this night ; for I am persuaded
that for your honour's sake you will suffer nothing to
be done to me but by order of law : I less fear to die
openly, than secretly to be murdered." Bothwell
replied, " I will not only preserve your body from all
violence that shall be intended against you without
order of law ; but I also promise, in the presence of
these gentlemen, that neither the governor nor cardin-
al shall have their will of you ; but I will keep you
in my own house, till I either set you free, or restore
you to the same place where I receive you." Then
said Mr. Cockburn, " My lord, if you make good your
promise, which we presume you will, we ourselves
will not only serve yon, but we will procure all the
professors in Lothian to do the same."

This agreement beiriGf made, Mr. Wishart was de-

312 BOOK OF MARTVRS.

livered into the hands of the earl, who immediately
conducted him to Edinburgh.

As soon as the earl arrived at that place, he was
sent for by the queen, who, being an inveterate ene-
my to Wishart, prevailed on the earl (notwithstand-
ing the promises he had made) to commit him a pris-
oner to the castle.

The cardinal being informed of Wishart's situa-
tion, went to Edinburgh, and immediately caused
him to be removed from thence to the castle of St.
Andrew's.

The inveterate and persecuting prelate, having
now got our martyr fully at his own disposal, resolv-
ed to proceed immediately to try him as a heretic,
for which purpose he assembled the prelates at St.
Andrew's church on the 27th of February, 1546.

At this meeting the archbishop of Glasgow gave it
as his opinion, that application should be made to the
regent, to grant a commission to some nobleman to
try the prisoner, that all the odium of putting so po-
pular a man to death might not lie on the clergy.

To this the cardinal readily agreed ; but upon send-
ing to the regent, he received the following answer :
" That he would do well not to precipitate this man's
trial, but delay it until his coming ; for as to him-
self, he would not consent to his death before the
cause was very well examined ; and if the cardinal
should do otherwise, he would make protestation,
that the blood of this man should be required at his
hands."

The cardinal was extremely chagrined at this mes-
sage from the regent ; however, he determined to
proceed in the bloody business he had undertaken ;
and therefore sent the regent word, " That he had
not written to him about this matter, as supposing
himself to be any way dependant upon his authority,
but from a desire that the prosecution and conviction
of heretics might have a show of public consent ;
which, since he could not this way obtain, he would

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 313

proceed in that way which to him appeared the
most proper."

In consequence of this, the cardinal immediately

[>roceeded to the trial of Wishart, against whom no
ess than eighteen articles were exhibited, which
were, in substance, as follows :

That he had despised the " holy mother-church ;"
had deceived the people ; had ridiculed the mass ;
had preached against the sacraments, saying that
there were not seven, but two only, viz., baptism and
the supper of the Lord ; had preached against con-
fession to a priest ; had denied transubstantiation and
the necessity of extreme unction ; would not admit
the authority of the pope or the councils ; allowed
the eating of flesh on Friday ; condemned prayers to
saints ; spoke against the vow of monks, &c, saying
that " whoever was bound to such vows, had vowed
themselves to the state of damnation, and that it was
lawful for priests to marry ;" that he had said, " it
was in vain to build costly churches to the honour of
God, seeing that he remained not in churches made
with men's hands ; nor yet could God be in so small
a space as between the priest's hands ;" — and, final-
ly, that he had avowed his disbelief of purgatory, and
had said, " the soul of man should sleep till the last
day, and should not obtain immortal life till that
time."

Mr. Wishart answered these respective articles
with great composure of mind, and in so learned and
clear a manner, as greatly surprised most of those
who were present.

A bigoted priest, named Lauder, at the instigation
of the archbishop, not only heaped a load of curses
on him, but treated him with the most barbarous con-
tempt, calling him "runagate, false heretic, traitor,
and thief;" and, not satisfied with that, spit in his
face, and otherwise maltreated him.

On this Mr. Wishart fell on his knees,' and after
making a prayer to God, thus addressed his judges :

27

314 EOOK OF MARTYRS.

" Many and horrible sayings unto me a Christian
man, many words abominable to hear, have ye spo-
ken here this day ; which not only to teach, but even
to think. I ever thought a great abomination."

After the examination was finished, the archbishop
endeavoured to prevail on Mr. Wish art to recant;
but he was too firmly fixed in his religious principles,
and too much enlightened with the truth of the gos-
pel, to be in the least moved.

In consequence of this the archbishop pronounced
on him the dreadful sentence of death, which he or-
dered should be put into execution on the following
day.

As soon as this cruel and melancholy ceremony
was finished, our martyr fell on his knees and thus
exclaimed :

" O immortal God, how long wilt thou suffer the
rage and great cruelty of the ungodly, to exercise
their fury upon thy servants, which do further thy
word in this world ? Whereas they, on the contrary,
seek to destroy the truth, whereby thou hast revealed
thyself to the world. O Lord, we know certainly
that thy true servants must needs suffer, for thy name's
sake, persecutions, afflictions, and troubles, in this
present world ; yet we desire that thou wouldst pre-
serve and defend thy church, which thou hast chosen
before the foundation of the world, and give thy peo-
ple grace to hear thy word, and to be thy true serv-
ants, in this present life."

Having said this, he arose, and was immediately
conducted by the officers to the prison from whence
he had been brought, in the castle.

In the evening he was visited by two friars, who
told him that he must make his confession to them ;
to whom he replied, " I will not make any confession
to you ;" on which they immediately departed.

Soon after this came the sub-prior, with whom
Wish art conversed in so feeling a manner on religious
matters, as to make him weep. When this man left

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 315

Wishart, he went to the cardinal, and told him, he
came not to intercede for the prisoner's life, but to
make known his innocence to all men. At these
words, the cardinal expressed great dissatisfaction,
and forbid the sub-prior from again visiting Wishart.

Towards the close of the evening, our martyr was
visited by the captain of the castle, with several of
his friends ; who bringing with them some bread and
wine, asked him if he would eat and drink with tnem.
" Yes," said Wishart, u very willingly, for I know
you are honest men." In the mean time he desired
them to hear him a little, when he discoursed with
them on the Lord's Supper, his sufferings and death
for us, exhorting them to love one another, and to
lay aside all rancour and malice, as became the mem-
bers of Jesus Christ, who continually interceded for
them with his father. After this he gave thanks to
God, and blessing the bread and wine, he took the
bread and brake it, giving some to each, saying, at
the same time, " Eat this, remember that Christ died
for us, and feed on it spiritually." Then taking the
cup, he drank, and bade them "remember that Christ's
blood was shed for them." After this he gave thanks,
prayed for some time, took leave of his visiters, and
retired to his chamber.

On the morning of his execution there came to
him two friars from the cardinal ; one of whom put
on him a black linen coat, and the other brought sev-
eral bags of gunpowder, which they tied about differ-
ent parts of his body.

In this dress he was conducted from the room in
which he had been confined, to the outer chamber of
the governor's apartments, there to stay till the neces-
sary preparations were made for his execution.

The windows and balconies of the castle, opposite
the place where he was to suffer, were all hung with
tapestry and silk hangings, with cushions for the car-
dinal and his train, who were from thence to feast
their eyes with the torments of this innocent man.

316 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

There was also a large guard of soldiers, not so much
to secure the execution, as to show a vain ostentation
of power; besides which, cannon were placed on dif-
ferent parts of the castle.

All the preparations being completed, Wishart, af-
ter having his hands tied behind him, was conducted
to the fatal spot. In his way thither he was accost-
ed by two friars, who desired him to pray to the Vir-
gin Mary to intercede for him. To whom he meek-
ly said, " Cease ; tempt me not, I entreat you."

As soon as he arrived at the stake, the executioner
put a rope around his neck, and a chain about his
middle ; upon which he fell on his knees, and thus
exclaimed :

" O thou Saviour of the world, have mercy upon
me ! Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into
thy holy hands."

After repeating these words three times he arose,
and turning himself to the spectators, addressed them
as follows :

" Christian brethren and sifters, I beseech you, be
not offended at the word of God for the torments
which you see prepared for me ; but 1 exhort you,
that ye love the word of God for your salvation, and
suffer patiently, and with a comfortable heart, for the
word's sake, which is your undoubted salvation, and
everlasting comfort. I pray you also, show my breth-
ren and sisters, who have often heard me, that they
cease not to learn the word of God, which I taught
them according to the measure of grace given me,
but to hold fast to it with the strictest attention ; and
show them that the doctrine was no old wives' fa-
bles, but the truth of God ; for if I had taught men's
doctrine I should have had greater thanks from men :
but for the word of God's sake I now suffer, not sor-
rowfully, but with a glad heart and mind. For this
cause I was sent, that I should suffer this fire for
Christ's sake ; behold my face, you shall not see me
change my countenance ; I fear not the fire ; and if

PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 317

persecution come to you for the word's sake, I pray
you fear not them that can kill the body, and have no
power to hurt the soul."

After this he prayed for his accusers, saying, " I
beseech thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that
have, from ignorance, or an evil mind, forged lies of
me : I forgive them with all my heart. I beseech
Christ to forgive them, that have ignorantly condemn-
ed me."

Then again turning himself to the spectators, he
said, "I beseech you, brethren, exhort your prelates
to learn the word of God, that they may be ashamed
to do evil, and learn to do good ; or there will come
upon them the wrath of God, which they shall not
eschew."

As soon as he had finished this speech, the execu-
tioner fell on his knees before him, and said, " Sir, I
pray you forgive me, for I am not the cause of your
death."

In return to this, Wishart cordially took the man
by the hand, and kissed him, saying, " Lo, here is a
token that I forgive thee ; my heart, do thine office."

He was then fastened to the stake, and the fagots
being lighted, immediately set fire to the powder that
was tied about him, and which blew into a flame and
smoke.

The governor of the castle, who stood so near that
he was singed with the flame, exhorted our martyr,
in a few words, to be of good cheer, and to ask par-
don of God for his offences. To which he replied,
" This flame occasions trouble to my body, indeed,
but it hath in no wise broken my spirit. But he who
now so proudly looks down upon me from yonder
lofty place," pointing to the cardinal, "shall ere long
be as ignominiously thrown down, as now he proud-
ly lolls at his ease."

When he had said this, the executioner pulled the
rope which was tied about his neck with great vio-
lence, so that he was soon strangled ; and the fire get-

27*

318 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ting strength, burnt with such rapidity that in less
than an hour his body was totally consumed.

Thus died, in confirmation of the gospel of Christ,
a sincere believer, whose fortitude and constancy,
during his suffering, can only be imputed to the sup-
port of divine aid, in order to fulfil that memorable
promisej " As is thy day, so shall thy strength be
also."

BOOK X.

Progress of the Reformation in the reign of Edward VI.

Edward was the only son of King Henry, by his
beloved wife Jane Seymour, who died the day after
his birth, which took place on the twelfth of October,
1537, so that when he came to the throne in 1547,
he was but ten years old.

At six years of age, he was put into the hands of
Dr. Cox and Mr. Cheke ; the one was to form his
mind, and teach him philosophy and divinity ; the
other to teach him languages and mathematics ; other
masters were also appointed for the various parts of
his education. He discovered very early a good dis-
position to religion and virtue, and a particular rev-
erence for the scriptures ; and was once greatly of-
fended with a person, who, in order to reach some-
thing hastily, laid a great Bible on the floor and stood
upon it. He made great progress in learning, and at
the age of eight years, wrote Latin letters frequently,
-both to the king, to queen Catherine Parre, to the
archbishop of Canterbury, and his uncle the earl of
Hertford.

Upon his father's decease, the earl of Hertford and

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 319

Sir Anthony Brown were sent to bring him to the
Tower of London ; and when Henry's death was pub-
lished, he was proclaimed king.

The education of Edward having been intrusted
to protestants, and Hertford, afterwards created duke
of Summerset being appointed protector, and favour-
ing the reformation, that cause greatly advanced ;
notwithstanding the opposition of some in power,
among whom were Gardiner, Bonner, Touslatt, and
above all, the lady Mary, the next heir to the throne.

UndeV the auspices of the young king, Cranmer
determined to proceed more vigorously in the work
of reformation. Accordingly, as a beginning, a gen-
eral visitation of all the churches in England was re-
solved upon. The visiters were accompanied by
preachers, who were to justify their conduct, and to
reason away existing superstitions.

The only thing by which the people could be uni-
versally instructed, was the book of homilies ; there-
fore, the first twelve homilies in the book, still known
by that name, were compiled. The chief design of
these homilies was to instruct the people as to the na-
ture of the gospel covenant.

About the same time, orders were given to place a
Bible in every church ; which, though it had been
commanded by Henry, had not been generally com-
plied with. This was accompanied by Erasmus's pa-
raphrase of the New Testament. The great reputa-
tion of that learned man, and his dying in the com-
munion of the Roman church, rendered his para-
phrase preferable to any other work then extant.

Injunctions also were added for removing images,
and abolishing customs which engendered supersti-
tion. The scriptures were to be read more frequent-
ly in public, preaching and catechising were also to
be more frequent, and the clergy were to be exhorted
to be more exemplary in their lives.

Next, the Liturgy was revised, and the marriage
of the priests agreed to. Acts were passed by par-

320 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

liament in aid of the views and proceedings of the
reformers. The new liturgy was generally introdu-
ced, and to great numbers proved highly acceptable.
The princess Mary, however, steadfastly refused it,
and continued to hear mass in her chapel.

The greater number of the bishops were now friends
of the reformation. It was thought, therefore, to be
a convenient time to settle the doctrine of the church.
Accordingly, a body of articles was framed by the
bishops and clergy. These articles were forty-two
in number. In Elizabeth's reign they were deduced
to thirty-nine, and have continued from that day
to the present to be the acknowledged creed of the
church of England.

The reformers next proceeded to revise anew the
lately published book of common prayer. In the dai-
ly service they added the confession and absolution ;
" that so the worship of God might begin with a grave
and humble confession ; after which a solemn decla-
ration of the mercy of God, according to the terms of
the gospel," was to be pronounced by the priest. At
the same time all popish customs were finally abolish-
ed. The liturgy, as now established, with the excep-
tion of a few trifling alterations, made under Eliza-
beth, assumed its present appearance.

While the reformation was thus proceeding, and
was likely, under Providence, to terminate in an
abandonment of every vestige of the Roman super-
stition, the prospects of the reformers were suddenly
overcast by the afflicting illness and death of the
young king.

He had contracted great colds by violent exercises,
which, in January, settled into so obstinate a cough
that all the skill of physicians and the aid of medi-
cine proved ineffectual. There was a suspicion over
all Europe, that he was poisoned : but no certain
grounds appear for justifying it.

The king seemed in nothing so much concerned as
at the state that religion and the church would be in

ACCESSION OF MARY. 321

after his death. The duke of Northumberland took
advantage of this, and persuaded the king to favour
lady Jane Gray, who was married to his son, lord
Guilford Dudley. The king ordered the judges to
put some articles he had signed in form of law. The
judges answered before the council, that it had been
made treason by a law passed in this reign, to change
the succession, so that they could not meddle with it.
Judge Hale, a firm protestant, refused the change al-
together ; but some were for confirming the right to
the crown to lady Jane Gray.

On the 6th July, king Edward VI. died : the last
words he uttered were, "I am faint ; Lord have mercy
upon me, and take my spirit."

BOOK XI.

Accession of queen Mary, subversion of religion, and persecutions
of the Church of England, during her reign.

It has been asserted by the Roman Catholics,
u That all those who suffered death during the reign
of queen Mary, had been adjudged guilty of treason,
in consequence of their rising in defence of lady Jane
Gray's title to the crown," To disprove this, how-
ever, is no difficult matter, since every one, conver-
sant in English history, must know, that those who
are found guilty of high treason are to be hanged and
quartered. But how can even a papist affirm, that
ever a man in England was burned for high treason ?
We admit, that some few suffered death in the ordi-
nary way of process at common law, for their adhe-
rence to lady Jane ; but none of those were burged.
Why, if traitors, were they taken before the bishops,
who have no power to judge in criminal cases ? Even
allowing the bishops to have had power to judge, yet

322 BOOK OF MARTYRS. *

their own bloody statute- did not empower them to
execute. The proceedings against the martyrs are
still extant, and they are carried on directly accord-
ing to the forms prescribed by their own statute.
Not one of those who were burned in England, was
ever accused of high treason, much less were they
tried at common law. And this should teach the rea-
der to value a history of transactions in his own coun-
try, particularly as it relates to the sufferings of the
blessed martyrs in defence of the religion he profes-
ses, in order that he may be able to remove the veil
which falsehood has cast over the face of truth. Hav-
ing said thus much, by way of introduction, we shall
proceed with the Acts and Monuments of the British
Martyrs.

By the death of king Edward, the crown devolved,
according to law, on his eldest sister Mary, who was
within half a day's journey to the court, when she
had notice given her by the earl of Arundel, of her
brother's death, and of the patent for lady Jane's suc-
cession. Upon this she retired to Framlingham, in
Suffolk, to be near the sea, that she might escape to
Flanders, in case of necessity. Before she arrived
there, she wrote, on the 9th of July, to the council,
telling them, that " she understood that her brother
was dead, by which she succeeded to the crown, but
wondered that she heard not from them ; she well
understood what consultations they had engaged in,
but she would pardon all such as would return to their
duty, and proclaim her title to the crown."

It was now found, that the king's death could be
no longer kept a secret ; accordingly some of the
privy council went to lady Jane, and acknowledged
her as their queen.* The news of the king's death
afflicted her much, and her being raised to the throne,

* The lady Jane was daughter to the duke of Suffolk, and grand-
daughter to Mary, sister to Henry VIII., who, on the death of her
first husband, the king of France, married Charles Brandon, after-
wards created duke of Suffolk.

ACCESSION OF MARY. 323

rather increased than lessened her trouble. She was
a person of extraordinary abilities, acquirements, and
virtues. She was mistress both of the Greek and
Latin tongues, and delighted much in study. As she
was not tainted with the levities which usually ac-
company her age and station, so she seemed to have
attained to the practice of the highest fortitude ; for
in those sudden turns of her condition, as she was not
exalted with the prospect of a crown, so she was lit-
tle cast down, when her palace was made her pri-
son. The only passion she showed, was that of the
noblest kind, in the concern she expressed for her
father and husband, who fell with her, and seeming-
ly on her account; though, in reality, Northumber-
land's ambition, and her father's weakness, ruined
her.

She rejected the crown, when it was first offered
her; she said she knew that of right it belonged to
the late king's sisters, and therefore could not with a
good conscience assume it ; but she was told, that
both the judges and privy counsellors had declared
that it fell to her according to law. This, joined
with the importunities of her husband, her father, and
father-in-law, made her submit. Upon this, twenty-
one privy counsellors set their hands to a letter to
Mary, telling her that queen Jane was now their
sovereign, and that as the marriage between her fa-
ther and mother had been declared null, so she could
not succeed to the crown ; they therefore required
her to lay down her pretensions, and to submit to the
settlement now made ; and if she gave a ready obe-
dience, promised her much favour. The day after
this they proclaimed Jane.

Northumberland's known enmity to the late duke
of Somerset, and the suspicions of his being the au-
thor of Edward's untimely death, begot a great aver-
sion in the people to him and his family, and dispos-
ed them to favour Mary ; who, in the mean time, was
very active in raising forces to support her c]&im.

324 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

To attach the protestants to her cause, she promised
not to make any change in the reformed worship, as
established under her brother ; and on this assurance
a large body of the men of Suffolk joined her stan-
dard.

Northumberland was now perplexed between his
wish to assume the command of an army raised to
oppose Mary, and his fear of leaving London to the
government of the council, of whose fidelity he en-
tertained great doubts. He was, however, at length
obliged to adopt the latter course, and before his de-
parture from the metropolis he adjured the members
of the council, and all persons in authority, to be
steadfast in their attachment to the cause of queen
Jane, on whose success, he assured them, depended
the continuance of the protestant religion in Eng-
land. They promised all he required, and he de-
parted, encouraged by their protestations and appa-
rent zeal.

Mary's party in the mean time continued daily to
augment. Hastings went over to her with 4000 men
out of Buckinghamshire, and she was proclaimed
queen in many places. At length the privy council
began to see their danger, and to think how to avoid
it ; and besides fears for their personal safety, other
motives operated with many of the members. To
make their escape from the Tower, where they were
detained, ostensibly to give dignity to the court of
queen Jane, but really as prisoners, they pretended
it was necessary to give an audience to the foreign
ambassadors, who would not meet them in the Tow-
er ; and the earl of Pembroke's house was appointed
for the audience.

When they met there they resolved to declare for
queen Mary, and rid themselves of Northumberland's
yoke, which they knew they must bear, if he were
victorious. They sent for the lord mayor and alder-
men, and easily gained their concurrence ; and Mary
was proclaimed queen on the 19th of July. They

ACCESSION OF MARY. 325

then sent to the Tower, requiring the duke of Suf-
folk to quit the government of that place, and the
lady Jane to lay down the title of queen. To this
she submitted with much greatness of mind, and her
father with abjectness.

The council next sent orders to Northumberland
to dismiss his forces, and to obey the queen. When
Northumberland heard this, he disbanded his forces,
went to the market-place at Cambridge, where he
then was, and proclaimed Mary as queen. The earl
of Arundel was sent to apprehend him, and when
Northumberland was brought before him, in the most
servile manner, fell at his feet to beg his favour. He,
with three of his sons and sir Thomas Palmer, (his
wicked tool in the destruction of the duke of Somer-
set,) were all sent to the Tower.

Every one now flocked to implore the queen's fa-
vour, and Ridley among the rest, but he was commit-
ted to the Tower ; the queen being resolved to put
Bonner again in the see of London. Some of the
judges, and several noblemen, were also sent thither,
among the rest the duke of Suffolk ; who was, how-
ever, three days after set at liberty. He was a weak
man, could do little harm, and was consequently se-
lected as the first person towards whom the queen
should exert her clemency.

Mary came to London on the 3d of August, and
on the way was met by her sister, lady Elizabeth,
with a thousand horse, whom she had raised to assist
the queen. On arriving at the Tower, she liberated
the duke of Norfolk, the duchess of Somerset, and
Gardiner ; also the lord Courtney, son to the mar-
quis of Exeter, who had been kept there ever since
his father's attainder, and whom she now made earl
of Devonshire.

Thus was seated on the throne of England the lady

Mary, who, to a disagreeable person and weak mind,

united bigotry, superstition, and cruelty. She seems

to have inherited more of her mothers than her fa-

28

320 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

ther's qualities. Henry was impatient, rough, and
ungovernable ; but Catherine, while she assumed the
character of a saint, harboured inexorable rancour
and hatred against the protestants. It was the same
with her daughter Mary, as appears from a letter in
her own hand-writing, now in the British Museum.
In this letter, which is addressed to bishop Gardiner,
she declares her fixed intention of burning every pro-
testant ; and there is an insinuation, that as soon as
circumstances would permit, she would restore back
to the church the lands that had been taken from the
convents. This was the greatest instance of her
weakness that she could show : for in the first place
the convents had been all demolished, except a few
of their churches ; and the rents were in the hands
of the first nobility, who, rather than part with them,
would have overturned the government both in church
and state.

Mary was crowned at Westminster in the usual
form ; but dreadful were the consequences that fol-
lowed. The narrowness of spirit which always dis-
tinguishes a weak mind from one that has been en-
larged by education, pervaded all the actions of this
princess. Unacquainted with the constitution of the
country, and a slave to superstition, she thought to
domineer over the rights of private judgment, and
trample on the privileges of mankind.

The first exertion of her regal power was, to wreak
her vengeance upon all those who had supported the
title of lady Jane Gray.

The first of these was the duke of Northumberland,
who was beheaded on Tower-hill, and who, in conse-
quence of his crimes, arising from ambition, died un-
pitied ; nay, he was even taunted on the scaffold by
the spectators, who knew in what manner he had acted
to the good duke of Somerset.

The other executions that followed were numerous
indeed, but as they were all upon the statute of high
treason, they cannot with any degree of propriety be

ACCESSION OF MARY. 327

applied to protestants, or, as they were called, heretics.
The parliament was pliant enough to comply with all
the queen's requests, and an act passed to establish
the popish religion. This was what the queen waited
for ; and power being now put into her hands, she
was determined to exercise it in the most arbitrary
manner. She was destitute of human compassion,
and without the least reluctance could tyrannize over
the consciences of men.

This leads us to the conclusion of the first year of
her reign ; and we consider it the more necessary to
take notice of these transactions, although not, strict-
ly speaking, martyrdoms, that our readers might be
convinced of the great difference there is between
dying for religion, and for high treason. It is histo-
ry alone that can teach them such things, and it is
reflection only that can make history useful. We
frequently read without reflection, and study with-
out consideration ; but the following portions of his-
tory, in particular, will furnish ample materials for
serious thought to our readers, and we entreat their
attention to them.

328 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

SECTION I.

MARTYRDOMS IN THE SECOND YEAR OF Q.UEEN
MARY'S REIGN.

The queen having satiated her malice upon tnose
persons who had adhered to lady Jane Gray, she had
next recourse to those old auxiliaries of popery, fire,
fagot, and the stake, in order to convert her heretical
subjects to the true Catholic faith.

Martyrdom of the Rev. John Rogers.

Mr. John Rogers, the aged minister of St. Sepul-
chre's church, Snow Hill, London, was the protomar-
tyr : he was the first sacrifice, strictly speaking, offered
up in this reign to popery, and led the way for those
sufferers, whose blood has been the foundation, honour,
and glory of the church of England.

This Mr. Rogers had been some time chaplain to
the English factory at Antwerp. There he became
acquainted with Mr. Tindal, and assisted him in his
translation of the New Testament. There were se-
veral other worthy protestants there at that time,
most of whom had been driven out of England, on
account of the persecutions for the six articles in the
latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. Mr. Rogers,
knowing that marriage was lawful, and even enjoin-
ed in scripture, entered into that state with a virtuous
woman, and soon after set out for Saxony, in conse-
quence of an invitation to that effect.

When Edward ascended the throne of England,
Mr. Rogers returned to his native country, and was
promoted by bishop Ridley to a prebendary of St.
Paul's. He was also appointed reader of the divini-
ty lecture in that cathedral, and vicar of St. Sepul-
chre's.

In this situation he continued some years : and as
queen Mary was .returning from the Tower, where
she had been imbibing Gardiner's pernicious coun-

CHARACTER OF MARY. 329

sels, Mr. Rogers was preaching at St. Paul's Cross.
He inveighed much against popery, expatiated on
the many virtues of the late king Edward, and ex-
horted the people to abide in theprotestant religion.

For this sermon he was summoned before the
council ; but he vindicated himself so well, that he
was dismissed.

This lenity shown by the council was rather dis-
pleasing to the queen ; and Mr. Rogers's zeal against
popery being equal to his knowledge and integrity,
he was considered as a person who would prevent
the re-establishment of popery.

For this reason it was, that he was summoned a
second time before the council ; and although there
were many papists among the members, yet such was
the respect almost universally felt for Mr. Rogers,
that he was again dismissed, but was commanded not
to go out of his own house. This order he complied
with, although he might have made his escape if he
would. He knew he could have had a living in Ger-
many, and he had a wife and ten children : but all
these things did not move him ; he did not court
death, but met it with fortitude when it came.

He remained confined in his own house several
weeks, till Bonner, bishop of London, procured an
order to have him committed to Newgate, where he
was lodged among thieves and murderers.

He was afterwards brought a third time before the
council, where Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, pre-
sided. It was not with any view of showing lenity
to the prisoner ; it was not with a view of convincing
him of error, supposing him to be guilty of any ; it
was not to recall him to the Romish church that he
was brought there : no, his destruction was designed,
and he was singled out to be an example to all those
who should refuse to comply with Romish idolatry.

When brought before the chancellor and council,
he freely acknowledged that he had been fully con
vinced, in his own mind, that the pope was Anti

28*

330 EOOK OK MARTYRS.

Christ, and that his religion was contrary to the
gospel.

He made a most elaborate defence, which, however,
did not avail him in the minds of his persecutors.
He showed them, that the statute upon which he
was prosecuted had never legally passed, and even
if it had, it was in all respects contrary to the word
of God : for whatever emoluments might have been
bestowed upon the clergy from time to time, they had
no right to persecute those who differed from them
in sentiment.

After he had been examined several times before
the council, which was a mere mockery of justice,
he was turned over to Bonner, bishop of London,
who caused him to go through a second mock exam-
ination ; and, at last, declared him to be an obstinate
heretic. A certificate of this was, in the ordinary
course, sent into chancery, and a writ was issued for
the burning of Mr. Rogers in Smithfield. This sen-
tence did not in the least frighten our martyr, who,
by faith in the blood of Christ, was ready to go
through with his attachment to the truth without
paying any regard to the malice of his enemies.

On the 4th of February, 1555, Mr. Rogers was
taken out of Newgate, to be led to the place of exe-
cution, when the sheriff asked him if he would re-
cant his opinions ? To this he answered, " That
what he had preached he would seal with his blood."
" Then," said the sheriff, "thou art a heretic." To
which Mr. Rogers answered, " that will be known
when we meet at the judgment seat of Christ."

As they were taking him to Smithfield, his wife
and eleven children went to take their last farewell
of a tender husband, and an indulgent parent. The
sheriffs, however, would not permit them to speak
to him ; so unfeeling is bigotry, so merciless is super-
stition ! When he was chained to the stake, he de-
clared that God would in his own good time vindi-
cate the truth of what he had taught, and appear in

THOMAS TOMKINS. 331

favour of the protestant religion. Fire was set to the
pile, and he was consumed to ashes.

He was a very pious and humane man, and his
being singled out as the first victim of superstitious
cruelty, can only entitle him to a higher crown of
glory in heaven.

SECTION II.

MARTYRDOMS OF NUMEROUS PERSONS IN VARIOUS
PARTS OF ENGLAND.

Thomas Tomkins,

The first person we have to mention on the bloody
list contained in this section, was named Thomas
Tomkins, a weaver, who lived, with great reputation,
in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. Being ac-
cused of heresy, he was summoned before that mer-
ciless persecutor, bishop Bonner, who confined him,
with many others, in the dungeons of his palace at
Fulham!

During his imprisonment he was treated by the
bishop in a manner not only unbecoming a prelate,
but a man : he several times beat him with peculiar
cruelty, and tore the greatest part of his beard from
his face, for no other reason but his refusing his as-
sent to the doctrine of transubstantiation.

Another instance of this cruel bishop's inhumanity
to Mr. Tomkins, was exhibited before several gen-
tlemen who came to visit him. The bishop, finding
him inflexible, took hold of him by the wrist, and held
his hand over the flame of a wax candle, in order, if
possible, to make him deviate from those uncorrupted
truths of the gospel he had so strongly preserved.
This punishment Mr. Tomkins submitted to with
great fortitude, till the veins burst, and water issuing
from the hand, flew into the face of a by-stander, who
was so affected, that he requested the bishop to for-
bear, saying, he had sufficiently punished the prisoner.

332 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

A few days after this, Mr. Tomkins was brought
before the bishop, at his consistory court at St, Paul's,
to whom he delivered the following articles of con-
fession in writing, sealed up, and signed with his own
hand :

" I, Thomas Tomkins, of the parish of St. Leo-
nard, Shoreditch, in the diocess of London, having
confessed and declared openly heretofore to Ed-
mund Bonner, bishop of London, mine ordinary, that
my belief hath been many years past, and is at this
present, that the body of our Saviour Jesus Christ is
not truly and in very deed, in the sacrament of the
altar, but only in heaven ; and so in heaven, that it
cannot now indeed be really and truly in the sacra-
ment of the altar :

"And, moreover, having likewise confessed and
declared to my said ordinary openly many times, that
although the church, called the Catholic church,
hath allowed, and doth allow the mass and sacrifice
made and done therein, as a wholesome, profitable,
and godly thing ; yet my belief hath been many years
past, and is at this present, that the said mass is full
of superstition, plain idolatry, and unprofitable for
the soul ; and so I have called it many times, and
take it at this present :

" Having; also confessed and declared to my said
ordinary, that the sacrament of baptism ought to be
only in the vulgar tongue, and not otherwise minis-
tered ; and also without such ceremonies as are
generally used in the Latin church, and otherwise
not to be allowed :

" Finally, being many and often times called be-
fore my said ordinary, and talking with all, touching
all my said confessions and declarations, both by my
said ordinary, and divers other learned men, as well
his chaplains as others, and counselled by them all
to embrace the church, and to recant mine error,
in the premises, which they told me was plain here-
sy, and manifest error ; do testify and declare hereby,

MARGARET POLLEY. 333

(hat I do and will continually stand to my said con-
fession, declaration, and belief, in all the premises,
and every part thereof; and in no wise recant, or
£0 from any part of the same. In witness whereof,
L have subscribed and passed the writing, this 26th
of September, 1554."

Bishop Bonner and the rest of the tribunal strong-
ly pressed Mr. Tomkins to recant his errors, and
return to the mother-church : but he only answered,
" I was born and brought up in ignorance till of lato
years, and now I know the truth, I will continue
therein unto death."

Finding him inflexible, they declared him a here-
tic, and ordered the sheriff of London, who attended,
to conduct him immediately to Newgate. Here he
remained till the 16th of March, 1555, when he was
conducted to Smithfield, and there burnt, triumph-
ing in the midst of the flames, and adding to the
number of those martyrs who had preceded him
through the path of the fiery trial to the realms of
immortal glory.

Margaret Polley, first Female Martyr in England,
Such was the fury of the bigoted zeal during the
reign of Mary, that even the more tender sex did not
escape the resentment of the Romish persecutors.
These monsters* in human form embraced every op-
portunity of exercising their cruelty, tyranny, and
usurpation ; nor could youth, age, or sex, impress on
their minds the least feelings of humanity.

Information being given against Margaret Polley,
to Maurice, bishop of Rochester, she was brought
before him, when his lordship, according to the pon
tifical solemnity of the church of Rome, rose from
his chair, in solemn parade, and harangued her as
follows :

" We, Maurice, by the sufferance of God, bishop
of Rochester, proceeding of our mere office in a cause
of heresy, against thee, Margaret Polley, of the parish

334 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

of Popingberry, in our diocess and jurisdiction o*
Rochester, do lay and object against thee, all and
singular the ensuing articles :

" To these, all and singular, we require of thee a
true, a full, and plain answer, by virtue of thine oath
thereupon to be given."

The oath being administered by the official, the
bishop looked steadfastly at the woman, and demand-
ed of her a peremptory answer to each of the follow-
ing articles.

1. " Are not those heretics, who maintain and
hold other opinions than our holy mother and Catholic
church doth V

To this she replied, " They are, indeed, heretics
and grossly deceived, who hold and maintain doc-
trines contrary to the will of God, contained in the
holy scriptures, which I sincerely believe were writ-
ten by holy men immediately taught and instructed
by the Holy Ghost."

2. " Do you hold and maintain that in the sacra-
ment of the altar, under the form of bread and wine,
there is not the very body and blood of Christ, and
that the said body is verily in heaven only, and
not in the sacrament ?"

She answered, " What I have learned from the
holy scriptures, those living oracles of God, I do and
will steadfastly maintain, viz., that the very body
which was crucified for the sins of all true believers,
ascended into heaven, is there placed at the right
hand of the majesty on high; that such body has
ever since remained there, and therefore cannot, ac-
cording to my belief, be in the sacrament of the altar.

" I believe that the bread and wine in the sacra-
ment are to be received as symbols and representa-
tives of the body and blood of Christ, but not as his
body really and substantially.

" I think, in my weak judgment, that it is not in the
power of any man, by pronouncing words over the
elements of bread and wine, to transubstantiate them
"nto the real body and blood of Christ.

MARGARET FOLLEY. 335

"In short, it is my belief that the eucharist is only
a commemoration of the death of our Saviour, who
said, : As oft as ye do this, do it in remembrance of
me. 7 "

These pertinent and frank replies greatly provoked
the haughty prelate, who exclaimed against the wo-
man as an obstinate heretic, and, after much scurril-
ous language, told her, " she was a silly woman,
knew not what she said, and that it was the duty of
every Christian to believe as the mother-church hath
taught and doth.teach."

He then asked her the following question : " Will
you, Margaret Polley, recant the error which you
maintain, be reconciled to the holy church, and re-
ceive the remission of sins ?" To which she replied,
"I cannot believe otherwise than I have spoken, be-
cause the practice of the church of Rome is contrary
not only to reason, and my senses, but also to the
word of God."

• Immediately on this reply, the bishop pronounced
sentence of condemnation against her ; after which
she was carried back to prison, where she remained
for upwards of a month.

She was a woman in the prime of life, pious, chari-
table, humane, learned in the scriptures, and be-
loved by all who were acquainted with her.

During her imprisonment she was repeatedly ex-
horted to recant; but she refused all offers of life on
such terms, choosing glory, honour, and immortality
hereafter, rather than a few short years in this vale
of grief, and even those purchased at the expense of
truth and conscience.

When the day appointed for her execution arrived,
which was in July, 1555, she was conducted from
the prison at Rochester to Tunbridge, where she was
burned, sealing the truth of what she had testified
with her blood, and showing that the God of all grace,
out of the weakest vessel can give strength, and
cause the meanest instruments to magnify the glories
of his redeeming; love.

336 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

William Allen, a labouring man, was burnt at
Walsingham. in Norfolk.

Thomas Cob, a butcher, suffered at Thetford, in the
same county.

Roger Coo, an ancient gentleman, was brought be-
fore the bishop of Norwich, and the following account ^
of his examination will give a good idea of the degree
of mercy and justice to be expected at such a tribu-
nal ; it being evident that the examination was a mere
mockery.

Roger Coo, being brought before the bishop, was
first asked by him why he was imprisoned?

Coo. At the justice's commandment.

Bishop. There was some cause why.

Coo. Here is my accuser, let him declare.

And his accuser said, that he would not receive
the sacrament.

Then the bishop said that he thought he had trans-
gressed a law.

Coo answered, that there was no law to transgress?

The bishop then asked, What he said to the law
that then was ?

Coo answered, That he had been in prison a long
time and knew it not.

No, said his accuser, nor will not. My lord, ask
him when he received the sacrament.

When Coo heard him say so, he said, I pray you,
my lord, let him sit down and examine me hinmelf.

But the bishop would not hear that, but said, Coo,
why will you not receive 'I

He answered him, That the bishop of Rome had
changed God's ordinances, and given the people ^Yead
and wine instead of the gospel and the belief of the
same.

Bishop. Is not the holy church to be believed ?

Coo. Yes, if it be built on the word of God.

The bishop said to Coo, that he had the charge of
his soul.

Coo. Have you so, my lord ? Then if you go to
the devil for your sins, what shall become of me ?

LATIMER AND RIDLEY. 337

Hiz>hu} Do you not believe as your father did?
"vas not he an honest man ?

Coo. It is written, that after Christ hath suffered,
" There shall come a people with the prince that
shall destroy both city and sanctuary." I pray you
show me whether this destruction was in my father's
time, or not ?

The bishop not answering his question, asked him,
whether he would not obey the king's laws ?

Coo. As far as they agree with the word of God I
will obey them.

Bishop. Whether they agree with the word of God
or not, we are bound to obey them, if the king were
an infidel.

Coo. If Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had so
done, Nebuchadnezzar had. not confessed the living
God.

Bishop. These two-and-t wen ty years we have been
governed by such kings.

Coo. My lord, why were you then dumb, and did
not speak or bark ?

Bishop. I durst not, for fear of death. And thus
they ended.

Mr. Coo was an a^ed man, and was at length com-
mitted to the fire at Yexford, in the county of Suf
folk, where he most blessedly concluded his long ex-
tended years, in the month of September, 1555.

Four others also suffered about the same time at
Canterbury, viz: George Cotmer, Robert Straater,
Anthony Burward, and George Brodridge ; all of
whom bore their punishment with Christian fortitude,
glorifying God in the midst of the flames.

SECTION III.

THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS, AND MARTYRDOMS OF HUGH
LATIMER, BISHOP OF WORCESTER, AND NICHOLAS
RIDLEY, BISHOP OF LONDON.

Hugh Latimer was born of humble parents at
Thirkeston, in Leicestershire, about the year 1475,

29

338 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

who gave him a good education, and sent him to Cam-
bridge, where he showed himself a zealous papist,
and inveighed much against the reformers, who at
that time began to make some figure in England.
But conversing frequently with Thomas Bilney, the
most considerable person at Cambridge of all those
who favoured the reformation, he saw the errors of
popery, and became a zealous protestant.

Latimer being thus converted, laboured, both pub-
licly and privately, to promote the reformed opinions,
and pressed.the necessity of a holy life, in opposition
to those outward performances, which were then
thought the essentials of religion. This rendered him
obnoxious at Cambridge, then the seat of ignorance,
bigotry, and superstition. However, the unaffected
piety of Mr. Bilney, and the cheerful and natural elo-
quence of honest Latimer, wrought greatly upon the
junior students, and increased the credit of the pro-
testants so much, that the papist clergy were greatly
alarmed, and, according to their usual practice, call-
ed aloud for the secular arm.

Under this arm Bilney suffered at Norwich : but
his sufferings, far from shaking the reformation at
Cambridge, inspired the leaders of it with new cour-
age. Latimer began to exert himself more than he
had yet done ; and succeeded to that credit with his
party which Bilney had so long supported. Among
other instances of his zeal and resolution in this cause,
he gave one which was very remarkable : he had the
courage to write to the king (Henry "VIII.) against a
proclamation, then just published, forbidding the use
of the Bible in English, and other books on religious
subjects. He had preached before his majesty once
or twice at Windsor ; and had been taken notice of
by him in a more affable manner, than that monarch
usually indulged towards his subjects. But whatever
hopes of preferment his sovereign's favour might have
raised in him, he chose to put all to the hazard rather
than omit what he thought his duty. His letter is the

LATIMER AND RIDLEY. 339

picture of an honest and sincere heart : he concludes
in these terms: "Accept, gracious sovereign, with-
out displeasure, what I have written ; I thought it
my duty to mention these things- to your majesty. No
personal quarrel, as God shall judge me, have I with
any man : I wanted only to induce your majesty to
consider well what kind of persons you have about yon,
and the ends for which they counsel. Indeed, great
prince, many of them, or they are much slandered,
have very private ends. God grant your majesty may
see through all the designs of evil men, and be in all
things equal to the high office with which you are
intrusted. Wherefore, gracious king, remember your-
self ; have pity upon your own soul, and think that
the day is at hand, when you shall give account of your
office, and the blood which hath" been shed by your
sword ; in the which day, that your grace may stand
steadfastly, and not be ashamed, but be clear and
ready in your reckoning, and have your pardon seal-
ed with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which alone
serveth at that day, is my daily prayer to him, who
suffered death for our sins. The spirit of God pre-
serve you."

Lord Cromwell was now in power, and being a fa-
vourer of the reformation, he obtained a benefice in
Wiltshire for Latimer, who immediately went thither
and resided, discharging his duty in a very conscien-
tious manner, though much persecuted by the Ro-
mish clergy ; who. at length, carried their malice so
far as to obtain an archi-episcopal citation for his ap-
pearance in London. His friends would have had
him quit England ; but their persuasions were in
vain.

The bishop of Winchester, who was now prime-
minister, having proscribed Mr. Latimer from the
first, sent a message to cite him before the council.

He had notice of this design some hours before the
messenger's arrival, but he made no use of the intel-
ligence. The messenger found him equipped for his

840 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

journey, at which, expressing his surprise, Mr. Lati-
mer told him 3 that he was as ready to attend him to
London, thus called upon to answer for his faith, as
he ever was to take any journey in his life ; and that
he doubted not but that God, who had already ena-
bled him to preach the word before two princes,
would enable him to witness the same before a third.
The messenger then acquainting him that he had no
orders to seize his person, delivered a letter and de-
parted. However, opening the letter, and finding it
a citation from the council, he resolved to obey it,
and set out immediately. As he passed through
Smithfield, he said cheerfully, " This place of burn-
ing hath long groaned for me." The next morning
he waited upon the council, who having loaded him
with many severe reproaches, sent him to the Tow-
er, from whence, after some time, he was removed
to Oxford.

Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London, received the
earliest part of his education at Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, from whence he was removed to the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, where his great learning and dis-
tinguished abilities so recommended him, that he was
made master of Pembroke-hall in that University.

After being some years in this office he left Cam-
bridge, and travelled into various parts of Europe for
his advancement in knowledge. On his return to
England he was made chaplain to Henry VIII. and
bishop of Rochester, from which he was translated
to the see of London by Edward VI.

In private life he was pious, humane, and affable;
in public he was learned, sound, and eloquent ; dili-
gent in his duty, and very popular as a preacher.

He had been educated in the Roman Catholic re
ligion, but was brought over to the reformed faith by
reading Bertram's book on the Sacrament ; and he
was confirmed in the same by frequent conferences
with Cranmer and Peter Martyr, so that he became
a zealous promoter of the reformed doctrines and
discipline during the reign of king Edward.

BEHAVIOUR OF RIDLEY. 341

"In his important offices he so diligently applied
himself by preaching and teaching the true and whole-
some doctrine of Christ, that no good child was moie
singularly loved by his dear parents, than he by his
flock and diocess. Every holiday and Sunday he
preached in one place or other, except he was other-
wise hindered by weighty affairs and business ; and
to his sermons the people resorted, swarming about
him like bees, and so faithfully did his life portray
his doctrines, that even his very enemies could not
reprove him in any thing.

" Besides this, he was very learned, his memory
was great, and he had attained such reading withal,
that he deserved to be compared to the best men of
his age, as his works, sermons, and his sundry dis-
putations in both the universities well testified."

Doctors Ridley and Latimer were both condemned
to be burned.

The account of Ridley's behaviour before and at
the place of execution, is curious and interesting ;
we therefore give it at length.

Behaviour of Dr. Ridley the night before he suf-
fered.

" On the night before he suffered, his beard was
washed and his legs ; and as he sat at supper, at the
house of Mr. Irish, his keeper, he invited his hostess
and the rest at the table to his marriage ; for, said
he, to-morrow I must be married, and soshowed him-
self to be as merry as ever he had been before. And
wishing his sister at his marriage, he asked his bro-
ther, sitting at the table, whether he thought she
could find in her heart to be there : he answered,
( Yes, I dare say, with all her heart. 7 At which he
said, { he was glad to hear of her sincerity.' At this
discourse Mrs. Irish wept. But Dr. Ridley comfort-
ed her, saying, < Oh, Mrs. Irish, you love me not, I
see well enough ; for in that you weep, it doth ap-
pear you will not be at my marriage, neither are

29*

342 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Content therewith. Indeed, you are not so much my
friend as I thought you had been. But quiet your-
self: though my breakfast shall be somewhat sharp
and painful j yet I am sure my supper will be more
pleasant and sweet.'

" When they arose from the table, his brother of-
fered to stay all night with him. But he said c No,
no, thaj-you shall not. For I intend (God willing)
to go to bed, and to sleep as quietly to-night as ever
I did.' On this his brother departed, exhorting him
to be of good cheer, and to take his cross quietly, for
the reward was great," <fec.

Burning of Ridley and Latimer.

" On the north side of the town, in the ditch over
against Baliol college, the place of execution was ap-
pointed : and for fear of any tumult that might arise
to hinder the burning of the servants of Christ, the
lord Williams was commanded by the queen's let-
ters, and the householders of the city, to be there as-
sistant, sufficiently appointed ; and when every thing
was in readiness, the prisoners were brought forth by
the mayor and bailiffs.

li Dr. Ridley had on a black gown, furred, and
faced with foins, such as he nsed to wear when he
was a bishop ; a tippet of velvet, furred likewise, about
his neck, a velvet night-cap upon his head, with a
corner cap, and slippers on his feet. He walked to
the stake between the mayor and an alderman, &c.

" After him came Mr. Latimer, in a poor Bristol
frieze frock much worn, with his buttoned cap and
handkerchief on his head, all ready to the tire, a new
long shroud hanging down to his feet ; which at the
first sight excited sorrow in the spectators, beholding
on the one side the honour they sometimes had, and
on the other, the calamity into which they had fallen,
" Dr. Ridley, as he passed toward Bocardo, looked
up where Dr. Cranmer lay, hoping to have seen him
at the glass window, and spoken to him. But Dr.

BURNING OF RIDLEY AND LATI1UER. 343

Cranmer was then engaged in dispute with friar Soto
and his fellows, so that he could not see him through
that occasion. Dr. Ridley, then looking back, saw
Mr. Latimer coming after ; unto whom he said, £ Oh,
are you there?' — c Yea,' said Mr. Latimer, 'have af-
ter as fast as I can.' So he following a pretty way
off, at length they came to the stake. Dr. Ridley
first entering the place, earnestly held up both his
hands and looked towards heaven ; then shortly af-
ter seeing Mr. Latimer with a cheerful look, he ran
to him and embraced him, saying, i Be of good cheer,
brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the
flame, or else strengthen us to abide it.'

4i He then went to the stake, and, kneeling down,
prayed with great fervour, while Mr. Latimer, fol-
lowing, kneeled also, and prayed as earnestly as he.
After this they arose and conversed together, and
while thus employed, Dr. Smith began his sermon to
them upon this text of St. Paul, in the 13th chapter
of the first epistle to the Corinthians : ' If I yield my
body to the fire to be burnt, and have not charity, I
shall gain nothing thereby."' Wherein he alleged,
that the goodness of the cause, and not the order of
death, maketh the holiness of the person ; which he
confirmed by the examples of Judas, and of a woman
in Oxford who of late hanged herself, for that they
and such like as he recited, might then be adjudged
righteous, which desperately separated their lives
from their bodies, as he feared that those men who
stood before him would do. But he cried still to the
people to beware of them, for they were heretics, and
died out of the church. He ended with a very short
exhortation to them to recant and come home again
to the church, and save their lives and souls, which
else were condemned. His sermon scarcely lasted a
quarter of an hour.

" At its conclusion, Dr. Ridley said to Mr. Lati-
mer, ' Will you begin to answer the sermon, or shall
I V Mr. Latimer said, ' Begin you first, I prav you !'
£ I will,' said Dr. Ridley.

344 ROOK OF MARTYRS*.

" He then, with Mr. Latimer, kneeled to my lord
Williams, the vice-chancellor of Oxford, and the oth-
er commissioners appointed for the purpose, who sat
upon a form thereby, and said, £ I beseech you, my
lord, even for Christ's sake, that I may speak but two
or three words ;' and whilst my lord bent his head
to the mayor and vice-chancellor, to know whether
he might have leave to speak, the bailiffs and Dr.
Marshall, the vice-chancellor, ran hastily unto him,
and with their hands stopping his mouth, said, 'Mr.
Ridley, if you will revoke your erroneous opinions,
you shall not only have liberty so to do, but also
your life.' c Not otherwise T said Dr. Ridley. i No,'
answered Dr. Marshall : i therefore if you will not
do so, there is no remedy : you must suffer for your
deserts.' ' Well,' said the martyr, c so long as the
breath is in my body, I will never deny my Lord
Christ, and his known truth : God's will be done in
me ; with that he rose and said with a loud voice,
' I commit our cause to Almighty God, who will in-
differently judge all.'

" To which Mr. Latimer added his old saying,
* Well, there is nothing hid but it shall be opened ;'
and said he could answer Smith well enough, if he
might be suffered. They were then commanded to
prepare immediately for the stake.

" They, according, with all meekness obeyed. Dr.
Ridley gave his gown and tippet to his brother-in-
law, Mr, Shipside, who, all the time of his imprison-
ment, although he was not suffered to come to him,
lay there at his own charges to provide him necessa-
ries, which from time to time he sent him by the ser-
geant who kept him. Some other of his apparel he
also gave away, the others the bailiffs took.

" He likewise made presents of other small things
to gentlemen standing by, and divers of them pitiful-
ly weeping ; to Sir Henry Lea, he gave a new groat ;
to my lord Williams' gentleman, some napkins, &c.,
and happy was he who could get the least trifle for a
remembrance of this good man.

BURNING OF RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 345

" Mr. Latimer quietly suffered his keeper to pull
off his hose and his other apparel, which was very
simple ; and being stripped to his shroud, he seemed
as comely a person as one could well see.

" Then Dr. Ridley, standing as yet in his trouse,
said to his brother, c It were best for me to go in my
trouse still.' ' No,' said Mr. Latimer, < it will put you
to more pain : and it will do a poor man good.'
Whereupon Dr. Ridley said, < Be it in the name of
God,' and so unlaced himself. Then being in his
shirt, he stood upon the aforesaid stone, and held up
his hand and said, 'Oh, heavenly Father, I give unto
thee most hearty thanks that thou hast called me to
be a professor of thee, even unto death ; I beseech
thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of Eng-
land, and deliver it from all her enemies.'

" Then the smith took a chain of iron and brought
it about both their middles : and as he was knocking
in the staple, Dr. Ridley took the chain in his hand,
and looking aside to the smith, said, < Good fellow,
knock it in hard, for the flesh will have its course.'
Then Mr. Latimer brought him a bag of gunpowder
and tied it about his neck. Dr. Ridley asked him
what it was ; he answered, gunpowder. { Then,'
said he, l I will take it to be sent of God, therefore I
will receive it. And have you any,' said he, ' for my
brother V (meaning Mr. Latimer.) i Yea, sir, that I
have,' said he. ' Then give it unto him,' said he, ' in
time, lest you come too late.' So his brother went
and carried it to Mr. Latimer.

Dr. Ridley said to my lord Williams, "My lord, I
must be a suiter unto your lordship in the behalf of
divers poor men, and especially in the cause of my
poor sister : I have made a supplication to the queen
in their behalf. I beseech your lordship, for Christ's
sake, to be a means to her grace for them. My bro-
ther here hath the supplication, and will resort to
your lordship to certify you hereof. There is noth-
ing in all the world that troubleth my conscience, (i

346 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

praise God,) this only excepted. Whilst I was in the
see of London, divers poor men took leases of me,
and agreed with me for the same. Now I hear that
the bishop who now occupieth the same room will
not allow my grants made to them, but, contrary to
all law and conscience, hath taken from them their
livings. I beseech you, my lord, be a means for
them : you shall do a good deed, and God will re-
ward you."

" They then brought a lighted fagot, and laid it at
Dr. Ridley's feet ; upon which Mr. Latimer said,
i Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man ;
we shall tiiis day light such a candle, by God's grace,
in England, as I trust never shall be put out.' When
Dr. Ridley saw the fire flaming up towards him, he
cried with an amazing loud voice, e Into thy hands,
O Lord, I commend my spirit; Lord, receive my
spirit ;' and continued often to repeat, ' Lord, Lord,
receive my spirit.' Mr. Latimer, on the other side,
cried as vehemently, ' O, Father of heaven, receive
my soul.' After which he soon died, seemingly with
very little pain.

" But Dr. Ridley, from the ill making of the fire,
the fagots being green, and piled too high, so that
the flames, being kept down by the green wood, burnt
fiercely beneath, was put to such exquisite pain, that
tie desired them, for God's sake, to let the fire come
unto him ; which Iris brother-in-law hearing, but not
very well understanding, to rid him out of his pain,
(for which cause he gave attendance,) as one in such
sorrow, and not well knowing what he did, heaped
fagots upon him, so that he quite covered him, which
made the fire so vehement beneath, that it burned
all his nether parts before it touched the upper, and
made him struggle under the fagots, and often de-
sired them to let the lire come to him, saying, c I
cannot burn.' Yet in all his torment he forgot not
to call upon God, still having in his mouth, ' Lord,
have mercy upon me,' intermingling his cry, ' Let

BURNING OF RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 347

the fire come unto me, I cannot burn.' In which
pains he laboured till one of the standcrs by, with his
bill, pulled the fagots from above, and where he saw
the fire flame up, he rested himself to that side. And
when the fire touched the gunpowder he was seen to
stir no more, but burned on the other side, falling
down at Mr. Latimer's feet, his body being divided.

" The dreadful sight filled almost every eye with
tears. Some took it grievously to see their deaths
whose lives they had held so dear. Some pitied their
persons, who thought their souls had no need there-
of But the sorrow of his brother, whose extreme
anxiety had led him to attempt to put a speedy end
to his sufferings, but who, from error and confusion,
had so unhappily prolonged them, surpassed that of
all ; and so violent was his grief, that the spectators
pitied him almost as much as they did the martyr."

Thus did these two pious divines and steadfast be-
lievers testify, with their blood, the truth of the ever-
lasting gospel, upon which depend all the sinner's
hopes of salvation ; to suffer for which was the joy,
the glory of many eminent Christians, who, having
followed their dear Lord and Master through much
tribulation in this vale of tears, will be glorified for
ever with him in the kingdom of his Father and our
Father, of his God and our God.

Mr. Latimer, at the time of his death, was in the
eightieth year of his age, and preserved the princi-
ples he had professed with the most distinguished
magnanimity. He had naturally a happy temper, 1
formed on the principles of true Christianity. Such
was his cheerfulness, that none of the accidents of
life could discompose him ; such was his fortitude,
that not even the severest trials could unman him ;
he had a collected spirit, and on no occasion wanted
a resource ; he could retire within himself, and hold
the world at defiance.

And as danger could not daunt, so neither could
ambition allure him : though conversant in courts,

348 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

and intimate with princes, lie preserved, to the last,
his primeval plainness : in his profession he was in-
defatigable ; and, that he might bestow as much time
as possible on the active part of it, he allowed him-
self only those hours for his private studies when the
busy world is at rest, constantly rising, at all seasons
of the year, by two in the morning. How conscien-
tious he was in the discharge of the public duties of
his office, we have many examples. No man could
persuade more forcibly ; no man could exert, on pro-
per occasion, a more commanding severity. The
wicked, in whatever station, he rebuked with censo-
rial dignity, and awed vice by his firmness, more
than the penal laws by their punishments.

Death of William Wiseman and of James Gore.

On the 13th oi December, William Wiseman, a
cloth- worker of London, died in Lollard's tower,
where he had been confined on account of his adhe-
rence to the gospel. It was suspected that he had
been starved to death ; but the truth of this could
not be ascertained.

After his death the papists cast him out into the
fields, as was their usual custom with such of the
protestants as expired under their hands, command-
ing that no man should bury him. Notwithstanding
their merciless commands, some pious Christians
buried him in the evening, as commonly they did all
the rest thrown out in like manner, singing psalms
( together at their burial.

In the same month also, James Gore, imprisoned
and in bonds for his resistance of the popish abomi-
nations, died in prison at Colchester.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 349

SECTION IV.

LIFE, SUFFERINGS, AND MARTYRDOM OF THOMAS
CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, WHO
WAS BURNT AT OXFORD, MARCH 21, 1556.

This eminent prelate was born at Aslacton, in
Nottinghamshire, on the 2d of July, 1489. His
family was ancient, and came in with William the
Conqueror. He was early deprived of his father, and
after a common school education, was sent by his
mother to Cambridge, at the age of fourteen, accord-
ing to the custom of those times.

"Having completed his studies at the university, he
took the usual degrees, and was so well beloved that
he was chosen fellow of Jesus college, and became
celebrated for his great learning and abilities.

In 1521 he married, by which he forfeited his fel-
lowship ; but his wife dying in child-bed within a
year after his marriage, he was re-elected. This fa-
vour he gratefully acknowledged, and chose to de-
cline an offer of a much more valuable fellowship in
cardinal Wolsey's new seminary at Oxford, rather
than relinquish friends who had treated him with
the most distinguished respect.

In 1523 he commenced doctor of divinity ; and
being in great esteem for theological learning, he was
chosen divinity lecturer in his own college, and ap-
pointed, by the university, one of the examiners in
that science. In this office he principally inculcated
the study of the holy scriptures, then greatly neglect-
ed, as being indispensably necessary for the profes-
sors of that divine knowledge.

The plague happening to break out at Cambridge,
Mr. Cranmer, with some of his pupils, removed to
Waltham Abbey, where meeting with Gardiner and
Fox, the one the secretary, the other the almoner of
king 'Henry VIII., that monarch's intended divorce
of Catherine his queen, the common subject of dis-

30

350 T300K OF MARTYRS.

course in those days, was mentioned : when Cran-
mer advising an application to the universities both
in England and in foreign countries for their opinion
in the case, and giving these gentlemen much satis-
faction, they introduced him to the king, who was so
pleased with him, that he ordered him to write his
thoughts on the subject, made him his chaplain, and
admitted him into that favour and esteem, which he
never afterwards forfeited.

In 1530 he was sent by the king, with a solemn
embassy, to dispute on the subject of the divorce, at
Paris, Rome, and other foreign parts. At Rome he
delivered his book, which he had written in defence
of the divorce, to the pope, and offered to justify it
in a public disputation : but after various promises
and appointments none appeared to oppose him ;
while in private conferences he forced them to con-
fess that the marriage was contrary to the law of God.
The pope constituted him penitentiary-general ol
England, and dismissed him. In Germany he gave
full satisfaction to many learned men, who were be-
fore of a contrary opinion ; and prevailed on the fa-
mous Osander (whose niece he married while there)
to declare the king's marriage unlawful.

Daring the time he was abroad, the great arch-
bishop Warham died : Henry, convinced of Cran-
mer's merit, determined that he should succeed him ;
and commanded him to return for that purpose. He
suspected the cause, and delayed : he was desirous,
by all means, to decline this high station : for he had
a true and primitive sense of the office. But a spirit
so different from that of the churchmen of his time,
stimulated the king's resolution ; and the more reluc-
tance Cranmer showed, the greater resolution Henry
exerted. He was consecrated on March 30, 1533,
to the office ; and though he received the usual bulls
from the pope, he protested, at his consecration,
against the oath of allegiance, &c. to him. For he
had conversed freely with the reformed in Germany,

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 351

and read Luther's books, and was zealously attached
to the glorious cause of reformation.

The first service he did the king in his archiepis-
copal character, was, pronouncing the sentence of
his divorce from queen Catherine : and the next was
joining his hand with Anne Boleyn, the consequence
of which marriage was the birth of Elizabeth, to
whom he stood godfather.

As the queen was greatly interested in the refor-
mation, the friends to that good work began to con-
ceive high hopes ; and, indeed, it went on with de-
sirable success. But the fickle disposition of the king,
'and the fatal end of the unhappy Anne, for a while,
alarmed their fears : though, by God's providence,
without any ill effects. The pope's supremacy was
universally exploded : monasteries, &c. destroyed,
upon the fullest detection of the most abominable
vices and wickedness existing in them : that valua-
ble book of the " Erudition of a Christian Man," was
set forth by the archbishop, .with public authority :
and the sacred Scriptures, at length, to the infinite
joy of Cranmer, and of lord Cromwell, his constant
friend and associate, were not only translated, but
introduced into every parish. The translation was
received with inexpressible joy : every one, that was
able, purchased it, and the poor flocked greedily to
hear it read : some persons in years learned to read
on purpose that they might peruse it : and even lit-
tle children crowded with eagerness to hear it.

Cranmer, that he might proceed with true judg-
ment, made a collection of opinions from the works
of the ancient fathers and later doctors : of which
work Dr. Burnet saw two volumes in folio ; and it
appears, by a letter of lord Burleigh, that there were
then six volumes of Cranmer's collections in his
hands. A work of incredible labour, and of vast
utility.

A short time after this, he gave shining proof of
his sincere and disinterested constancy, by his noble

352 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

opposition to what are commonly called king Hen-
ry's six bloody articles. However, he weathered the
storm ; and published, with an incomparable pre-
face, written by himself, the larger Bible ; six of
which, even Bonner, then newly consecrated bishop
of London, caused to be fixed, for the perusal of the
people, in his cathedral of St. Paul's.

The enemies of the reformation, however, were
restless ; and Henry, alas ! was no protestant in his
heart. Cromwell fell a sacrifice to them ; and they
aimed their malignant shafts at Cranmer. Gardiner
in particular, was indefatigable : he caused him tobe^
accused in parliament, and several lords of the privy
council moved the king to commit the archbishop to
the Tower. The king perceived their malice ; and
one evening, on pretence of diverting himself on the
water, ordered his barge to be rowed to Lambeth.
The archbishop, being informed of it, came down to
pay his respects, and was ordered by the king to
come into the barge, and sit close by him. Henry
made him acquainted with the accusations of heresy,
faction, &c, which were laid against him ; and spoke
of his opposition to the six articles : the archbishop
modestly replied, that he could not but acknowledge
himself to be of the same opinion, with respect to
them, but was not conscious of having offended
against them. The king then, putting on an air of
pleasantry, asked him, if his bedchamber could stand
the test of these articles ? The archbishop confessed,
that he was married in Germany, before his promo-
tion ; but he assured the king, that on the passing of
that act, he had parted with his wife, and sent her
abroad to her friends. His majesty was so charmed
with his openness and integrity, that he discovered
the whole plot that was laid against him ; and gave
him a ring of great value to produce upon any future
emergency.

A few days after this, Cranmer's enemies summon
ed him to appear before the council. He according

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 353

iy attended, when they suffered him to wait in the
lobby, amongst the servants, treated him on his ad-
mission with haughty contempt, and would have sent
him to the Tower. But he produced the ring, which
changed their tone, and, while his enemies received
a severe reprimand from Henry, Cranmer himself
gained the highest degree of security and favour.

On this occasion, he showed that lenity and mild-
ness for which he was always so much distinguished :
he never persecuted any of his enemies ; but, on the
contrary, freely forgave even the inveterate Gardi-
ner, on his writing a supplicatory letter to him. The
same lenity he showed towards Dr. Thornton, the
suffragan of Dover, and Dr. Barber, who, though en-
tertained in his family, intrusted with his secrets, and
indebted to him for many favours, had ungratefully
conspired with Gardiner to take away his life.

"When Cranmer first discovered their treachery, he
took them aside into his study, and telling them, that
he had been basely and falsely accused by some in
whom he had always reposed the greatest confidence,
desired them to advise him how he should behave
himself towards them ? They, not suspecting them-
selves to be concerned in the question, replied, that
" such vile, abandoned villains ought to be prose-
cuted with the greatest rigour ; nay, deserved to die
without mercy." At this the archbishop, lifting up
his hands to heaven, cried out, " Merciful God !
whom may man trust !" And then taking out of his
bosom the letters, by which he had discovered their
treachery, asked them, if they knew those papers ?
When they saw their own letters produced against
them, they were in the utmost confusion : and fail-
ing down upon their knees, humbly sued for forgive-
ness. The archbishop told them, " that he forgave
them, and would pray for them ; but that they must
not expect him ever to trust them for the future."

When Mary mounted the throne, she gave orders
to proceed against Cranmer for heresy. He is sent

30*

354 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

to prison ; lie is degraded; his priestly garments
taken from him ; he is used hard in prison ; he is
over-persuaded, and at last overcome, and signs a re-
cantation of his faith, and again professes to believe
in the Catholic church. He feels condemnation upon
this, and expecting to suffer death, prepares a writing
to show his feelings. The queen Mary gave orders
to Dr. Cole, to prepare a funeral sermon for Cran-
mer's burning, by the 21st of March, the day appoint-
ed for to burn him, but which was kept from Cran-
mer till the last. He declared his grief and repen-
tance before all the people, when brought forth to
be burned, for his having signed a recantation of his
faith.

Then was an iron chain tied about Cranmer, and
they commanded the fire to be set unto him.

And when the wood was kindled, and the fire be
gan to burn near him, he stretched forth his right
hand, which had signed his recantation, into the
flames, and there held it so steadfast that all the peo-
ple might see it burn to a coal before his body was
touched. In short he was so patient and constant in
the midst of these extreme tortures, that he seemed
to move no more than the stake to which he was
bound ; his eyes were lifted up to heaven, and often
he repeated, " this unworthy right hand," so long as
his voice would suffer him ; and as often using the
words of the blessed martyr St. Stephen, " Lord Je-
sus, receive my spirit," till the fury of the flames
putting him to silence, he gave up the ghost.

Thus died Thomas Cranmer, in the 67th year of
his age. He was a man of great candour, and a firm
friend, which appeared signally in the misfortunes of
Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, and the duke of Somerset.
In his writings he rather excelled in great industry
and good judgment, than in a quickness of apprehen-
sion, or a closeness of style. He' employed his re-
venues on pious and charitable uses ; and in his ta-
ble he was truly hospitable, for he entertained great

FIVE PERSONS STARVED TO DEATH. 355

numbers of his poor neighbours often at it. The gen-
tleness and humility of his deportment were very re-
markable. His last fall was the greatest blemish of
his life, yet that was expiated by a sincere repent-
ance ; and while we drop a tear over this melancholy
instance of human frailty, we must acknowledge with
praise the interposition of Divine Providence in his
return to the truth. And it seemed necessary that
the reformation of the church, being the restoring of
the primitive and apostolic doctrine, should have been
chiefly carried on by a man thus eminent for primi-
tive and apostolic virtues.

SECTION Y.

PERSECUTIONS AND MARTYRDOMS OF VARIOUS PER-
SONS, AFTER THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP CRAN-
MER.

On the Sth of September, 1556, one Edward Sharp
was burnt at Bristol ; and on the 25th of the same
month, a young man, by trade a carpenter, suffered
at the same place.

The day preceding the last martyrdom, John Hart,
a shoemaker, and Thomas Ravendale, a currier, were
burnt at May field, in Sussex. And on the 27th of the
same month, one John Horn, and a woman whose
name is unknown, suffered at Wooten-under-Edge,
in Gloucestershire.

All these martyrs submitted to their fate with the
most Christian fortitude, giving glory to God for hav-
ing numbered them among the followers and advo-
cates of his most holy gospel.

Five persons starved to death.

The last on record, who suffered for the truth of
the gospel in the bloody year 1556, were five persons,
(confined, with many others, in Canterbury castle,)
who were cruelly starved to death. Their names
were as follow : William Foster, Alice Potkins, and

356 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

John Archer, who had been condemned; John Clark
and Dustan Giittenden, who had not been condemned.

The cruel usage these unhappy persons sufFered
from their unfeeling persecutors, is displayed in a let-
ter written by one of them, and thrown out of the
window of the prison ; of which the following is an
exact copy :

" Be it known unto all men that shall read, or hear
read, these our letters, that we, the poor prisoners ot
the castle of Canterbury, for God's truth, are kept
and lie in cold irons, and our keepers will not surfer
any meat to be brought to us to comfort us. And it
any man do bring us any thing, as bread, butter,
cheese, or any other food, the said keeper will charge
them that so bring us any thing except money or
raiment, to carry it them again ; or else, if he do re-
ceive any food of any for us, he doth keep it for him-
self, and he and his servants do spend it, so that we
have nothing thereof; and thus the keeper keepeth
away our victuals from us : insomuch, that there are
four of us prisoners there for God's truth famished
already ; and thus it is his mind to famish us all : and
we think he is appointed thereunto by the bishops
and priests, and also of the justices, so to famish us ;
and not only us of the said castle, but also all other
prisoners in other prisons for the like cause, to be
also famished ; notwithstanding, we write not these
our letters, to that intent we might not afford to be
famished for the Lord Jesus' sake, but for this cause
and intent, that they, having no law to famish us in
prison, should not do it privily, but that the murder-
ers' hearts should be openly known to all the world,
that all men may know of what church they are, and
who is their father. — Out of the castle of Canter-
bury."

Among the others confined with these five were
ten men, who having been examined by Dr. Thorn-
ton, suffragan of Dover, and Nicholas Harpsfielcl,
archdeacon of Canterbury, were sentenced to be

FURTHER PERSECUTIONS, 357

burnt. They had been confined a considerable time,
but their sentence was, at length, put into execution ;
and they were the first who opened the bloody trans-
actions of the year 1557. Their names were as fol-
low : Stephen Kemp, of Norgate ; William Waterer,
of Beddingden ; W. Prowting, of Thornham ; W.
Lo wrick, of Cranbroke ; Thomas Hudson, of Sa-
lenge; William Hay, of Hithe ; Thomas Stephens,
of Beddington ; John Philpot, Nicholas Final, and
Matthew Bradbridge, all of Tenterden.

The first six were burnt at Canterbury on the 15th
of January, 1557 ; Stephens and Philpot suffered the
next day at Wye ; and Final and Bradbridge the day
after, at Ashford.

They all bore their sufferings with Christian forti-
tude, rejoicing that their troubles were drawing to
an end, and that they should leave this world, for that
where the weary are at rest.

Further Persecutions.

Notwithstanding the numerous sacrifices that had
been made in various parts of the kingdom, since the
accession of queen Mary, in order to gratify the bar-
barous bigotry of that infuriated princess, yet they
were far from being at an end. Naturally disposed
to tyranny, and encouraged in her blood-thirsty prin-
ciples by that monster in human form, Bonner, bishop
of London, she determined to compel all her subjects
who differed from h'erself in religious sentiments,
either to submit to her maxims, or fall victims to her
insatiable vengeance.

To facilitate this horrid intention, in the beginning
of February, 1557, she issued the following procla-
mation, which was, in a great measure, promoted by
bishop Bonner, whose diabolical soul, in conjunction
with hers, thirsted after the blood of those who wor-
shipped God in purity of heart.

" Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, king and
queen of England, &c. To the right reverend father

358 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

in God, our right trusty and well-beloved counsellor
Thomas, bishop of Ely, and to our right trusty and
well-beloved William Windsore, knight, lord Wind-
sore ; Edward North, knight, lord North ; and to our
trusty and well-beloved counsellor J. Bourn, knight,
one of our chief secretaries, J, Mordaunt, knight,
Francis Englefield, knight, master of our wards and
liveries, Edward Walgrave, knight, master of our
great wardrobe, Nicholas Hare, knight, master of the
rolls, Thomas Pope, knight, Roger Chomley, knight,
Richard Rede, knight, Rowland Hill, knight, William
Rastal, sergeant at law, Henry Cole, clerk, dean of
Paul's, William Roper, and Ralph Chomley, esquires,
William Cook, Thomas Martin, John Story, and John
Vaughan, doctors of the law, greeting :

" Forasmuch as divers devilish and slanderous per-
sons have not only invented, bruited, and set forth
divers false rumours, tales, and seditious slanders
against us, but also have sown divers heresies and
heretical opinions, and set forth divers seditious books
within this our realm of England, meaning thereby
to stir up division, strife, contention, and sedition,
not only amongst our loving subjects, but also be-
twixt us and our said subjects, with divers other out-
rageous misdemeanors, enormities, contempts, and
offences, daily committed and done, to the disquiet-
ing of us and our people ; we, minding the due pun-
ishment of such offenders, and the repressing of such
like offences, enormities, and' misbehaviours from
henceforth, having special trust and confidence in
your fidelities, wisdoms, and discretions, have author-
ized, appointed, and assigned you to be our com-
missioners ; and by these presents do give full pow-
er and authority unto you and three of you, to in-
quire, as well by the oaths of twelve good and law-
ful men, as by witnesses, and all other means and po-
litic ways you can devise, of all and singular hereti-
cal opinions, lollardies, heretical and seditious books,
concealments, contempts, conspiracies, and all false

FURTHER PERSECUTIONS. 359

rumours, tales, seditious and slanderous words or
sayings, raised, published, bruited, invented, or set
forth against us, or either of us, or against the quiet
governance and rule of our people and subjects, by
books, lies, tales, or otherwise, in any county, key,
bowing, or other place or places, within this our
realm of England, or elsewhere, in any place or pla-
ces, beyond the seas, and of the bringers in, utterers,
buyers, sellers, readers, keepers, or conveyers of any
such letter, book, rumour, and tale, and of all and
every their coadjutors, counsellors, comforters, pro-
curers, abettors, and maintainers, giving unto you,
and three of you, full power and authority, by virtue
hereof, to search out, and take into your hands and
possessions, all manner of heretical and seditious
books, letters, and writings, wheresoever they, or any
of them shall be found, as well in printers' houses
and shops as elsewhere, willing you, and every of
you, to search for the same in all places, according to
your discretions.

" And also to inquire, hear, and determine, all and
singular enormities, disturbances, misbehaviours, and
negligences committed in any church, chapel, or oth-
er hallowed place within this realm ; and also for and
concerning the taking away or withholding any lands,
tenements, goods, ornaments, stocks of money, or
other things belonging to every of the same churches
and chapels, and all accounts and reckonings con-
cerning the same. '

" And also to inquire and search out all such per-
sons as obstinately do refuse to receive the blessed
sacrament of the altar, to hear mass, or come to their
parish churches, or other convenient places appoint-
ed for divine service ; and all such as refuse to go on
procession, to take holy bread, or holy water, or other-
wise do misuse themselves in any church, or other
hallowed places, wheresoever any of the same offen-
ces have been, or hereafter shall be committed, with-
in this our said realm.

360 JBOOK OP MARTYRS.

" Nevertheless, our will and pleasure is, that when,
and as often as any person or persons hereafter be-
ing called or convened before you do obstinately per
sist, or stand in any manner of heresy, or heretical
opinion, that then ye, or three of you, do immediate-
ly take order, that the same person or persons so
standing or persisting, be delivered and committed
to his ordinary, there to be used according to the
spiritual and ecclesiastical laws.

"And also we give unto you, or three of you, full
power and authority # to inquire and search out all
vagabonds, and masterless men, barretours, quarrel-
ers, and suspected persons, abiding within our city
of London, and ten miles compass of the same, and
all assaults and affrays done and committed within
the same city and compass.

££ And further, to search out all wastes, decays and
ruins of churches, chancels, chapels, parsonages and
vicarages, in the diocess of the same, being within
this realm, giving you, and every of yon, full power
and authority, by virtue hereof, to hear and deter-
mine the same, and all other offences and matters
above specified and rehearsed, according to your wis-
doms, consciences, and discretions, willing and com-
manding you, or three of you, from time to time, to
use and devise all such ways and means for the trial
and searching out of the premises, as by you, or three
of you, shall be thought most expedient and neces-
sary : and upon inquiry, and due proof had, known,
perceived, and tried out, by the confession of the par-
ties, or by sufficient witnesses before you, or three of
you, concerning the premises, or any part thereof, or
by any other ways or means requisite, to give and
award such punishment to the offenders, by fine, im-
prisonment, or otherwise : and to take such order foi
redress and reformation of the premises, as to your
wisdoms, or three of you, shall be thought meet and
convenient

" Further willing and commanding you, and any

VARIOUS MARTYRDOMS. 361

three of you, in case you shall find any person, or
persons, obstinate or disobedient, either in their ap-
pearance before you, or three of you, at your calling
or assignment, or else in not accomplishing, or not
obeying your decrees, orders, and commandments,
in anything or things, touching the premises, or any
part thereof, to commit the same person, or persons,
so offending, to ward, there to remain, till by you,
or three of you, he be discharged or delivered, <fcc."

Martyrdom of five women and two men at Maidstone.

After this proclamation, the storm of persecution
began in all places to rage anew, but no where more
than in the diocess of Canterbury, as the inquisition
was there under the direction of Richard Thornton,
bishop of Dover, and the archdeacon of Canterbury,
who were so furious against the harmless flock of
Christ, that they needed not the proclamation to stir
up the coals of their burning cruelty, but yet were
enabled by it to gratify to a greater extent their dia-
bolical malice against the believers. "We have al-
ready given several instances of the furious persecu-
tions in this diocess, and we have now to add the fol-
lowing, wherein seven innocents were committed to
the flames by these monsters, under the pretence of
religion !

In the next month following, beiug the 18th day
of June, were seven Christian and faithful martyrs
of Christ burned at Maidstone, whose names here
follow :

Joan Bradbridge, of Staplehurst ; Walter Apple
by, of Maidstone ; Petronil, his wife; Edmund Allin,
of Frytenden ; Catharine, his wife; John Manning's
wife, of Maidstone ; Elizabeth, a blind maiden.

As concerning the general articles commonly ob-
jected to them in the public consistory, and the or-
der of their condemnation, it differeth not much from
the usual manner expressed before, neither did their
answers in effect much differ from the others that
31

362 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

suffered under the same ordinary in the aforesaid
diocess at Canterbury.

Scourging of Thomas Hinshaw ^ by Bonner.

When bishop Bonner found that his examinations,
persuasions, threats, and imprisonments, were to no
purpose with Thomas Hinshaw, one of those who had
been apprehended at Islington, he took him to Ful-
ham, where, immediately after his coming, he was
set in the stocks, remaining there all the first night,
with no other refreshment than bread and water.

The next morning the bishop came and examined
him himself, and perceiving no yielding in his mind,
he sent Mr. Harpsfield to talk with him ; who, after a
long dispute, at last fell into a passion, calling Hin-
shaw "peevish boy," and asking him "whether he
thought he went about to damn his soul, or no?" &c.
To all this Hinshaw answered, " That he was per-
suaded that they laboured to maintain their dark and
devilish kingdom, and not for any love of truth."
Harpsfield, being greatly incensed, told the bishop of
this ; who was thereat in as great a rage as himself,
and, although scarce able to speak for anger, cried
out, " Dost thou answer my archdeacon so, thou
naughty boy? I shall handle thee well enough, be
assured." He then sent for a couple of rods, and caus-
ing Hinshaw to kneel against a long bench in an ar-
bour in his garden, severely scourged him with his
own hands, till he was compelled to desist, from fa-
tigue.

After this scourging, Hinshaw was several times
examined : and at last being brought before the bish-
op in his chapel at Fulham, articles were exhibited
against him, which the young man denied, and would
not affirm, or consent to any of their interrogatories.

Being remanded to prison, about a fortnight after
he fell sick of an ague, whereupon he was delivered,
after much entreaty, to his master, Martin Pugson,
in St. Paul's church-yard ; for the bishop thought he

JOHN CORNEFORD AND OTHERS. 363

was more likely to die than to live ; indeed his sick-
ness continued a twelve-month or more, so that in
the mean time queen Mary died. He shortly after
recovered his health, and thus escaped the death de-
signed for him by the persecutors.

Martyrdom of John Corneford, Christopher Browne,
John Herst, Alice Snoth, and Catharine Knight,
{alias Tinley.)

These five persons were the last who suffered in
queen Mary's reign for the testimony of that word
for which so many had died before, and gave up their
lives meekly and patiently, suffering the violent ma-
lice of the papists.

The matter why they were judged to the fire was,
for believing the body not to be in the sacrament of
the altar, unless it be received :

For confessing that an evil man doth not receive
Christ's body :

That it is idolatry to creep to the cross, and that
St. John forbiddeth it, saying, " Beware of images :"

For confessing that we should not pray to saints,
because they be not omnipotent.

For these and other similar articles of Christian
doctrine, they were committed to the flames. Not-
withstanding the sickness of queen Mary, whereof
they were not ignorant, the archdeacon and others of
Canterbury hastened to despatch the martyrdom of
these persons, before her death, which was daily ex-
pected, should deprive them of the power.

In so doing this archdeacon proved himself more
bigoted and bloodthirsty than ever Bonner, who, not-
withstanding he had some at the same time under his
custody, yet did not hurry them to the stake, as ap-
pears by several persons who, being then in his pri-
son, were delivered by the death of queen Mary.

We have not any particulars relative to the exami-
nations, &c. of the five persons above named, but
the following anecdotes of two of them are given bv
the Martyrologist.

364 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Catharine Tinley was the mother of one Rohert
Tinley, dwelling in Maidstone, which Robert was in
trouble all queen Mary's time. To whom his mother
coming to visit him, asked him how he took this place
of scripture which she had seen, not by reading of the
scripture, (for she had yet in manner no taste of reli-
gion,) but had found it by chance in a book of pray-
ers, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ; your
old men shall dream dreams, and your young men
shall see visions. And also upon the servants and
upon the maids in those days will I pour my Spirit,"
&c. Which place after that he had expounded to
her, she began to take hold on the gospel, growing
more and more in love and zeal thereof, and so con-
tinued unto her martyrdom.

Among such women as were burned at Canterbu-
ry, it is recorded of a certain maid, and supposed to
be this Alice Snoth mentioned in this story, or else
to be Agnes Snoth, of whom an account is given in a
preceding page, that when she was brought to be ex-
ecuted, she being at the stake, called for her godfa-
thers and godmothers. The justice hearing her, sent
for them, but they durst not come. Notwithstanding
the justices willed the messenger to go again, and to
show them that they should incur no danger thereof.

Then they hearing that, came to know the matter
of their sending for. When the maid saw them, she
asked them what they had promised for her, and so
she immediately rehearsed her faith, and the com-
mandments of God, and required of them, if there
were any more that they had promised in her behalf;
and they said, No.

Then, said she, I die a Christian woman, bear wit-
ness of me ; and she was consumed in fire, and gave
up her life joyfully for the testimony of Christ's gos-
pel, to the terror of the wicked, and comfort of the
godly, and also to the stopping of the slanderous
mouths of such as falsely do quarrel against the faith-

HUNT AND WHITE. 365

ful martyrs, for going from that religion wherein by
their godfathers and godmothers they were at first
baptized.

Condemnation of John Hunt and Richard White,
who escaped the fire by the death of queen Mary.

Several others were imprisoned in various places,
whereof some were but lately taken and not examin-
ed, some were examined but not condemned, and
others had been both examined and condemned, but
the warrants for their execution not being signed,
they escaped. Nay, of some the writ had been
brought down for their burning, and yet by the death
of the chancellor, the bishop, and of queen Mary,
happening about one time, they most happily and mi-
raculously were preserved, and lived many years af-
ter. Of these were John Hunt and Richard White,
imprisoned at Salisbury, of whom the history is given
as follows:

" These two good men had been in prison at Salis-
bury, and other places thereabouts, more than two
years ; were often called to examination, and manifold
ways impugned by the bishops and priests. As a
specimen we shall give the examination of Richard
White, before Dr. Capon, the bishop of Salisbury,
Dr. Brookes, the bishop of Gloucester, with Dr.
Geoffrey, the chancellor, and other priests, with
whom first the bishop of Gloucester, who had the
examination of him, began thus :

'• On being interrogated for what cause he came
hither, White answered that he desired to know the
cause, and referred to the Register as to his exami-
nation at Marlborough. After some irrelevant mat-
ter he was asked his opinion of the sacrament of the
altar, when they stumbled upon the very definition
of a sacrament, a word first framed by St. Augustine,
and not to be found in the scripture ; and White de-
clared that Christ and his sacraments are alike, and
that in both are two natures ; in the one, a divine
31*

366 EOOK OF MARTYRS.

and human nature, in the other, an external and in-
ternal ; the external being the element of bread and
wine, and the internal the invisible grace. He after-
wards observed that Christ, as God, is in all places ;
but as man, only in one place. After some other
questions, equally appropriate, and answers not more
satisfactory to his persecutors, lie was ordered away
to the Lollards' Tower. They were sent for to be
condemned by the chancellor, who delivered them to
the sheriff in order to execution.

" The sheriff, Sir Anthony Hungerford, being ad-
vised by his son-in-law, Mr. Clifford, of Bosco, (per-
haps Boscomb,) in Wilts, deferred their execution,
until he received the writ de coniburendo ; and was ,
supported therein by Mr. Justice Brown, on which
he left the town, and the chancellor rode after him,
to know why he had not seen them executed.

" The sheriff, hearing the chancellor's words, and
seeing him so urgent upon him, told him again that he
was no babe, which now was to be taught of him. If
he had any writ to warrant and discharge him in burn-
ing those men, then he knew what he had to do ; but
if you have no other writ but that which you signed,
I tell you I will neither burn them for you, nor any
of you all.

" Where note again, (good reader,) how by this it
may be thought and supposed, that the other poor
saints and martyrs of God, such as had been burned
at Salisbury before, were burned belike without any
authorized or sufficient writ from the superiors, but
only from the information of the chancellor and of
the close.

" Dr. Geoffrey, the chancellor, thus sent away
from the sheriff, went home, and there fell sick upon
the same.

"The under sheriff to this Sir Anthony Hungerford,
above named, was one Mr. Michell, a godly man. So
that not long after this came down the writ to burn
the above named Richard White and John Hunt ;

t

DEATH OF QUEEN MARY. 367

bat the under sheriff said, I will not be guilty of these
men's blood; and immediately burnt the writing,
and departed his way. Within four days after, the
chancellor died ; concerning whose death this com-
eth by the way to be noted, that these two aforesaid,
John Hunt and Richard White, being at the same
time in a low and dark dungeon, suddenly fell to such
a weeping, (but how they could not tell,) that they
could not pray one word ; the first word they heard
in the morning was, that the chancellor was dead,
which happened the same hour when they fell into
such a sudden weeping. Richard White and John
Hunt, after the death of the chancellor, the bishop
also being dead a little before, continued still in pri-
son till the happy coming in of queen Elizabeth ; and
so were set at liberty."

Death of Queen Mary*

Happy are we to say, that the five persons men-
tioned above completed the number of human sacri-
fices in this island. They were the last who fell vic-
tims to gratify the malevolent heart of Bonner, and
the bigoted zeal of the unfeeling and relentless Mary.

The queen's health had been long declining. She
had, for some time, been afflicted with the dropsy,
the consequence of a false conception, and of the
improper regimen which she pursued. Her malady
was greatly augmented by the anxiety of her mind,
which was a prey to the most painful refections.
The consciousness of being hated by her subjects ;
the mortification of being childless ; the fear of leav-
ing her crown to a sister, whom she detested ; the
approaching ruin that threatened the Catholic religion
in England on her death ; the indifference of her hus-
band, (Philip of Spain.) who, never having loved her,
had now ceased to treat her even with the outward
show of affection, and had retired into his own coun-
try in disgust : all these painful circumstances prey-
ed upon her mind, and at length threw her into a

3G8 BOOK OP MARTYRS;

slow fever, of which she died on the 15th of Novem
ber, 155S, in the forty-third year of her age, and the
sixth of her reign.

When we consider the bigoted z;eal of this infatu-
ated princess, and the great number of valuable lives
sacrificed through her arbitrary mandates, we are na-
turally led to condemn her, first, as a fellow-creature,
and next, as a sovereign ; but more particularly in
the latter character, because, as Providence had
placed her in so distinguished a rank, she should
have held out the arm of protection to her subjects,
instead of the sword of destruction. But the whole
progress of her reign does not furnish us with a sin-
gle instance of merit in her, either as a woman or a
sovereign. On the contrary, all her actions were of
the most horrid and gloomy cast ; and the barbari-
ties she committed, during her reign, were such as to
exceed description. With her the practice of reli-
gion became the trade of murder, and the care of her
people the exercise of her cruelty ; while all her
views for their happiness, terminated in punishments
for their virtues. Her bigotry infected every branch
of government, and weakened every bond of society.
She had not any thing engaging, either in her person,
her behaviour, or her address : her understanding
was confined within very narrow limits, and her tem-
per was morose and gloomy ; while obstinacy, bi-
gotry, violence, malignity, revenge, and tyranny, di-
rected all her actions.

The death of queen Mary revived the drooping
spirits of the long-oppressed protestants. They now
anticipated the peaceful period, when they should
no longer be persecuted for their religion ; and when
their virtues would not expose them to the rage of
ignorance and bigotry.

Nor were they mistaken : Elizabeth was as strong
an advocate for the protectant religion, as her prede-
cessor had been inveterate against it. No sooner did
she ascend the throne, than her attention was directed

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 369

to the protection of the professors of the reformed
religion ; but she did this in so wise and prudent
a manner, as to prevent any disturbance from the op
posite party. By her distinguished management, in
a short time, she fixed the protestant religion on so
solid a basis, as to prevent its being again overthrown ;
and ever since her reign, though various attempts
have been made to destroy it, they have all termi-
nated in the defeat of the conspirators, and the ruin of
their projects. That they may always so terminate,
should be the fervent prayer of every one who prefers
purity to corruption, and the decent worship of the
reformed churches, to the frivolous ceremonies and
pompous nothingness of the Popish worship.

SECTION VI.

Miraculous preservation of the lady Elizabeth from
extreme calamity and danger in the time of queen
Mary j her sister.

When all hath been said and told, whatsoever can
be recited touching the admirable working of God's
present hand in defending and delivering any one
person out of thraldom, never was there, since the
memory of our fathers, any example to be showed,
wherein the Lord's mighty power hath more admira-
bly showed itself, to the glory of his own name, to
the comfort of all good hearts, and to the public feli-
city of this whole realm, than in the miraculous es-
cape of the lady Elizabeth in the time of queen Mary,
her sister.

Before she was crowned, Mary would go no whi-
ther, but would have her by the hand, and send for
Elizabeth to dinner and supper ; but after she was
crowned, she never dined nor supped with her, but
kept her apart from, her, &c. After this it happened,
immediately upon 'the rising of sir Thomas Wyat,
that the lady Elizabeth and lord Courtney were

370 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

charged with false suspicion of sir Thomas Wyat's
rising. Whereupon queen Mary, whether for that
surmise, or for what other cause I know not, being
offended with the said lady Elizabeth, her sister, at
that time lying in her house at Ashbridge, the next
day after the rising of Wyat, sent to her three of her
counsellors, to wit, sir Richard Southwell, sir Ed-
ward Hastings, then master of the horse, and sir Tho-
mas Corn wallis, with their retinue and troop of horse-
men, to the number of two hundred and fifty, who,
at their sudden and unprovided coming, found her at
the same time sick in her bed, and very feeble and
weak of body. Whither when they came, ascending
up to her grace's chamber, they desired one of her
ladies, whom they met, to declare "to her grace, that
there were divers come from the court who had a
message from the queen.

Her grace having knowledge thereof, was right
glad of their coming ; -however, being then very sick,
and the night far spent, (which was at ten o'clock,)
she requested them by the messenger, that they would
resort thither in the morning. To this they answer
ed, that they must needs see her, and would so do, in
what case soever she were. Whereat the lady being
surprised, went to show her grace their words, but
they hastily following her, came rushing as soon as
she into her grace's chamber 'unbidden.

At whose sudden coming into her bedchamber, her
grace, being greatly amazed, said unto them, Is the
haste such that it might not have pleased you to
come to-morrow in the morning ?

They made answer, that they were right sorry to
see her in that case ; and 1 (said she) am not glad to
see you here at this time of the night. Whereupon
they answered, that they came from the queen to do
their message and duty, which was to this effect, that
the queen's pleasure was, that she should be at Lon-
don the seventh day of that present month. Where-
unto she said, Certainly no creature can be more glad

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 371

than I to come to her majesty, being right sorry that
I am not in a case at this time to wait on her, as you
yourselves do see, and can well testify.

Indeed we see it true, said they, that you do say ;
for which we are very sorry, although we let you to
understand, that our commission is such, and so strait-
eneth us, that we must needs bring you with us, either
alive or dead. Whereat she being amazed, sorrow-
fully said, that their commission was very sore : but
yet notwithstanding she hoped it would be other-
wise, and not so straight. Yes, verily, said they.
Whereupon they calling for two physicians, Dr. Owen
and Dr. Wendy, demanded of them whether she
might be removed from thence with life, or no 1
Whose answer and judgment was, that there was no
impediment in their opinion to the contrary, but that
she might travel without danger of life.

In conclusion, they desired her to prepare against
the next morning, at nine o'clock, to go with them, de-
claring that they had brought with them the queen's
litter for her. After much talk, the messengers, de-
claring how there was no prolonging of times and
days, departed to their chamber.

The next morning, at the time prescribed, they
had her forth as she was, very faint and feeble, and
in such case that she was ready to swoon three or
four times between them.

Now to proceed in her journey from Ashbridge.
Sick in the litter, she came to Redborne, where she
was guarded all night ; from thence to St. Alban's,
to sir Ralph Rowlet's house, where she tarried that
night, both feeble in body, and comfortless in mind.
From thence they passed to Mr. Dod's house at
Mims, where they also remained that night ; and so
from thence she came to Highgate, where she, being
very sick, tarried that night and the next day* During
which time of her abode, there came mauy pursui-
vants and messengers from the court, hit for vv'aat
purpose I cannot tell.

372 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

From that place she was conveyed to the court,
where by the way came to meet her many gentlemen
to accompany her highness, who were very sorry to
see her in that situation. But especially a great mul-
titude of people were standing by the way, who then
flocked about her litter, lamenting and bewailing
greatly her estate. Now when she came to the court,
her grace was there shut up, and kept a close prisoner,
a fortnight, which was till Palm-Sunday, seeing nei-
ther king nor queen, nor lord nor friend, all that
time, but only the then lord chamberlain, sir John
Gage, and the vice-chamberlain, which were atten-
dant unto the doors. About which time sir William
Sentlowe was called before the council. To whose
charge was laid, that he knew of Wyat's rebellion,
which he stoutly denied, protesting that he was a true
man both to God and his prince, defying all traitors
and rebels; but being straitly examined, he was in
conclusion committed to the Tower.

The Friday before Palm-Sunday, the bishop of
Winchester, with nineteen others of the council, came
unto her grace from the queen's majesty, and bur-
dened her with Wyat's conspiracy ; which she utter-
ly denied, affirming that she was altogether guiltless
therein. They being not contented with this, charg-
ed her grace with business made by sir Peter Carew,
and the rest of the gentlemen of the west country;
which also she utterly denied, clearing her inno-
cency therein.

In conclusion, after long debating of matters, they
declared unto her, that it was the queen's will and
pleasure that she should go unto the Tower, while
the matter was further tried and examined.

Whereat she being amazed, said that she trusted
the queen's majesty would be a more gracious lady
unto her, and that her highness would not otherwise
conceive of her but that she was a true woman ; de-
claring furthermore to the lords, that she was inno-
cent in all those matters wherein thev had hardened

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 373

her, and desired them therefore to he a further means
to the queen her sister, that she being a true woman
in thought, word, and deed, towards her majesty,
might not be committed to so notorious and doleful
a place ; protesting that she should request no favour
at her hand, if she should he proved to have consent-
ed unto any such kind of matter as they laid unto
her charge, and therefore, in fine, desired their lord-
ships to think of her what she was, and that she might
not so extremely be dealt withal for her truth.

Whereunto the lords answered again, that there
was no remedy, for that the queen's majesty was fully
determined that she should go unto the Tower.
Wherewith the lords departed, with their caps hang-
ing over their eyes. But not long after, within the
space of an hour, or little more, came four of the
aforesaid lords of the council, which were the lord
treasurer, the bishop of Winchester, the lord steward,
the earl of Sussex, with the guard ; who, warding the
next chamber to her, secluded all her gentlemen and
yeomen, ladies and gentlewomen : except that for
one gentleman usher, three gentle women, and two d
grooms of her chamber, were appointed in their
rooms three other men of the queen's and three wait-
ing women, to give attendance likewise upon her,
that none should have access to her grace.

At which time there was a hundred northern sol-
diers in white coats, watching and wandering about
the gardens all that night, and a great fire being made
in the midst of the hall, two certain lords were watch-
ing there also with their band and company.

Upon Saturday following, two lords of the coun-
cil (the one was the earl of Sussex, the other shall
be nameless) came and certified her grace, that she
must go forthwith unto the Tower, the barge being
prepared for her, and the tide now ready, which tar-
rieth for nobody. In heavy mood her grace request-
ed the lords that she might tarry another tide, trust-
ing that the next would be better and more comfort-

32

374 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

able. But one of the lords replied, that neither time
nor tide was to be delayed.

And when her grace requested him that she might
oe suffered to write to the queen's majesty, he an-
swered, that he durst not permit that : adding, that
in his judgment it would rather hurt than profit her
grace in so doing.

But the other lord, more courteous and favourable,
(who was the earl of Sussex,) kneeling down, told
her grace, that she should have liberty to write, and
as he was a true man, he would deliver it to the
queen's highness, and bring an answer of the same,
whatsoever came thereof. Whereupon she wrote,
although she could in no case be suffered to speak
with the queen, to her great discomfort, being no of-
fender against the queen's majesty.

And thus the time and tide passed away for that
season, they privily appointing ail things ready that
she should go the next tide, which fell about mid-
night : but for fear she should be taken by the way,
they durst not. So they stayed till the next day, be-
ing Palm-Sunday, when about nine o'clock these two
returned again, declaring that it was time for her
grace to depart. She answered, if there be no re-
medy, I must be contented, willing the lords to go on
before. Being come forth into the garden, she cast
her eyes towards the window, thinking to see the
queen, which she could not. Whereat she said, she
marvelled much what the nobility of the realm meant,
which in that sort would suffer her to be led into cap
tivity, the Lord knew whither, for she did not. In
the mean time commandment was given throughout
London, that everyone should keep the church, and
carry their palms, while in the mean season she might
be conveyed without any concourse of people to the
Tower.

After this, she took her barge, with the two afore-
said lords, three of the" queen's gentlewomen, and
three of her own, her gentleman usher and two of

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 375

her grooms lying and hovering upon the water a cer-
tain space, for that they could not shoot the bridge,
the bargemen being very unwilling to shoot the same
so soon as they did, because of the danger thereof:
for the stern of the boat struck upon the ground, the
fall was so great and the water was so shallow, that
the boat being under the bridge, there stayed again
awhile. At landing, she first stayed, and refused to
land at those stairs, where all traitors and offenders
customarily used to land ; neither could she well, un-
less she should go over her shoes. The lords were
gone out of the boat before, and asked why she came
not. One of the lords went back again to her, and
brought word she would not come.

Then said one of the lords, (who shall be name-
less,) that she should not choose ; and because it did
then rain, he offered to her his cloak, which she, put-
ting it back with her hand with a good dash, refused.
She coming out, having one foot upon the stairs, said,
here landeth as true a subject, being prisoner, as ever
landed at these stairs : and before thee, O God, I
speak it. having no other friends but thee alone.

To whom the same lord answered again, that if it
were so, it was the better for her. At her landing
there was a great multitude of their servants and
warders standing in their order. What needed all
this ? said she. It is the use, said some, so to be when
any prisoner came thither. And if it be, quoth she,
for my cause, I beseech you that they may be dis-
missed. Whereat the poor men kneeled down, and
with one voice desired God to preserve her grace.

After this, passing a little further, she sat down up-
on a stone, and there rested herself. To whom the
lieutenant then being said, madam, you were best to
come out of the rain, for you sit un wholesomely.
She then replying, answered again, it is better sitting
here than in a worse place ; for God knoweth, I
know not whither you will bring me. With that her
gentleman usher wept ; she demanding of him what

376 ^BOOK OP MARTYRS.

he meant by using her so uncomfortably, seeing she
took him to be her comfort, and not to dismay her,
especially for that she knew her truth to be such,
that no man should have cause to weep for her. But
forth she went into prison.

The doors were locked and bolted upon her, which
greatly discomforted and dismayed her grace. At
which time she called to her gentlewoman for her
book, desiring God not to suffer her to build her
foundation upon the sands, but upon the rock, where-
by all blasts of blustering weather should have no
power against her. The doors being thus locked,
and she close shut up, the lords had great conference
how to keep ward and watch, every man declaring
his own opinion in that behalf, agreeing straitly and
circumspectly to keep her.

Then one of them, which was the lord of Sussex,
swearing, said, my lords, let us take heed, and do no
more than our commission will bear us out in, whatso-
ever shall happen hereafter. And further, let us con-
sider that she was the kins: our master's daughter ;
and therefore let us use such dealing, that we may an-
swer it hereafter, if it shall so happen : for just deal-
ing (quoth he) is always answerable ; whereunto the
other lords agreed that it was well said of him, and
.thereupon departed. Being in the Tower, within
two days commandment was, that she should have
mass within her house. One Mr. Young was then
her chaplain, and because there were none of her
men so well learned to help the priest to say mass,
the mass stayed for that day.

It would make a pitiful and strange story here by
the way, to recite what examination and rackings of
poor men there were to find out the knife that should
cut her throat ; what gaping among my lords of the
clergy to see the day wherein they might wash their
goodly white rochets in her innocent blood ; but es-
pecially the bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardi-
ner, then lord chancellor, who, within five days af-

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 377

ter, came unto her, with divers others of the council,
and examined her of the talk that was at Ashbridge,
oetween her and sir James Acroft, concerning her re-
moving from thence to Dunnington castle, requiring
her to declare what she meant thereby.

At the first, she being so suddenly asked, did not
well remember any such house ; but within a while,
well advising herself, she said, indeed I do now re-
member that 1 have such a place, but I never lay in
it in all my life. And as for any that hath moved me
thereunto, I do not remember.

Then to enforce the matter, they brought forth sir
James Acroft. The bishop of Winchester demand-
ed of her what she said to that name. She answer-
ed, that she had little to say to him, or to the rest
that were then prisoners in the Tower : but, my
lords, said she, you do examine every mean prisoner
of me, wherein methinks you do me great injury. If
they have done evil, and offended the queen's majes-
ty, let them answer to it accordingly. I beseech you,
my lords, join not me in this sort with any of these
offenders. And as concerning my going unto Dun-
nington castle, I do remember that Mr. Hobby and
mine officers, and you, sir James Acroft, had such
talk ; but what is that to the purpose, my lords, but
that I may go to mine own houses at all times 1

The lord of Arundel kneeling down, said, your
grace saith true, and certainly we are very sorry that
we have troubled you about so vain matters. She
then said, my lords, you do sift me very narrowly :
but well I am assured, you shall not do more to me
than God hath appointed ; and so God forgive you
all.

At their departure, sir James Acroft kneeled down,
declaring he was sorry to see the day in which he
should be brought as a witness against her grace.
But I assure your grace, said he, I have been mar-
vellously tossed and examined touching your high-
ness, which, the Lord knoweth. is very strange to
3-?*

378 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

me : for I take God to record, before all your ho-
nours, I do not know any thing of that crime that
you have laid to my charge, and will thereupon take
my death, if I should be driven to so strict a trial.

That day, or thereabouts, divers of her own offi-
cers, who had made provision for her diet, brought
the same to the outer gate of the Tower, the com-
mon soldiers receiving it ; which was no small grief
unto the gentlemen, the bringers thereof. Where-
fore they desired to speak with the lord chamberlain,
who was then constable of the Tower. On coming
into his presence, they declared unto his lordship,
that they were much afraid to bring her grace's diet,
and to deliver it to such common and desperate per-
sons as those who received it, beseeching his honour
to consider her grace, and to give such order, that
her viands might at all times be brought in by them,
who had been appointed for that purpose. Yea, sirs,
said he, who appointed you this office? They an-
swered, her grace's council. Council ! said he :
there is none of them which hath to do either in that
case, or any thing else within this place ; and I as-
sure you, for that she is a prisoner, she shall be ser-
ved by the lieutenant's men, as other the prisoners
are. One of the gentlemen on this told him, that
they trusted for more favour from his hands, consid-
ering her personage : and added, that they imagin-
ed the queen and her council would be better to her
grace than so ; and showed themselves to be offend-
ed at the ungracious words of the lord chamberlain
respecting their lady and mistress.

On this he swore by God, striking himself upon
the breast, that if they did either frown or shrug at
him, he would set them where they should see nei-
ther sun nor moon. Thus taking their leave, they
desired God to bring him into a better mind towards
her grace, and departed from him.

Upon which occasion, her grace's officers made
great suit unto the queen's council; that some pro-

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 379

per persons might be appointed to bring her grace's
diet unto her, and that it might no more be deliver-
ed by the common soldiers of the Tower : which be-
ing reasonably considered, was by them permitted ;
and one of her gentlemen, her clerk of the kitchen,
and her two purveyors, were appointed to bring in
her provision once a day: the warders, however,
continued to wait upon them on these occasions.

The lord chamberlain himself, being always with
them, circumspectly and narrowly watched and
searched what they brought, and took care that thty
should have no talk with any of her grace's waiting
servants, and so guarded them both in and out. At
the said suit of her officers, were sent, by the com-
mandment of the council, to wait upon her grace,
two yeomen of her chamber, one of her robes, two
of her pantry and ewry, one of her buttery, another
of her cellar, two of her kitchen, and one of her lar-
der, all which continued with her the time of her
trouble.

Here the constable, being at the first not very well
pleased with the coming in of such a company against
his will, would have had his men still to have served
with her grace's men ; which her servants would by
no means suffer, desiring his lordship to be content-
ed, for that orders were given, that no stranger should
come within their offices. At which answer being
sore displeased, he broke out into these threatening
words, well, I will handle you well enough ! Then
he went into the kitchen, and there would needs have
his meat roasted with her grace's, and said, that his
cook should come thither and dress it. To that her
grace's cook answered, my lord, I will never suffer
any stranger to come about her diet, but her own
sworn men, as long as I live. He said they should.
But the cook said, his lordship should pardon him for
that maUei\ Thus did he trouble her poor servants
grievously ; though afterward he was otherwise ad-
vised, and they were more courteously used at his

380 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

hands. And good cause why : for he had good cheer,
and fared of the best, and her grace paid well for it.
Wherefore he used himself afterward more reverent-
ly toward her grace.

Having been a whole month there in a close pri-
son, and being on that account uneasy, she sent for
the lord chamberlain and the lord Chandois to come
and speak with her. When they were come, she re-
quested them that she might have liberty to walk in
some place, for that she felt herself not well. To
which they answered, that they were right sorry that
they could not satisfy her grace's request, for that
they had commandment to the contrary, which they
durst not in any wise hreak. She then desired of
them, if that could not be granted, that she might but
walk in the queen's lodging. No, nor yet that, they
answered, could by any means be obtained without
a further suit to the queen and her council. Well,
said she, my lords, if the matter be so hard that they
must be sued unto for so small a thing, and that friend-
ship be so strict, God comfort me : and so they de-
parted, she remaining in her old dungeon still, with-
out any kind of comfort but only God.

The next day lord Chandois came unto her grace,
declaring unto her that he had applied to the coun-
cil for further liberty. Some of them consented there-
unto, divers others dissented, for that there were so
many prisoners in the Tower. But, in conclusion,
they did all agree that her grace might walk into
those lodgings, so that he, and the lord chamberlain,
and three of the queen's gentlewomen, did accompa-
ny her, the windows being shut, and she not suffered
to look out at any of them : wherewith she content-
ed herself, and gave him thanks for his good will in
that behalf.

Afterwards there was liberty granted to her grace
to walk in a little garden, the doors and gates being
shut up, which was as much discomfort to her, as the
walk in the garden was pleasant and acceptable. At

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 3S1

which times of her walking there, the prisoners on
that side were strictly commanded not to speak or
look out of her windows into the garden, till her
grace was gone out again, having their keepers wait-
ing upon them for that time. Thus her grace with
this small liberty contented herself in God, to whom
be praise therefore.

The fifth day of May, the constable of the Tower
was discharged from his office, and one Sir Henry
Benifield placed in his room, a man unknown to her
grace, and therefore the more feared ; which sudden
alteration occasioned her no small surprise.

On Trinity Sunday, being the nineteenth day of
May, she was removed to the Tower, and conveyed
to Woodstock, where she was enclosed, as before in
the Tower of London, the soldiers guarding both
within and without the walls, every day, to the num-
ber of sixty ; and in the night without the walls for-
ty, during the time of her imprisonment there.

At length she had gardens appointed for her to
walk in, which was very comfortable to her grace.
But always when she recreated herself therein, the
doors were fast locked up, in as strict a manner as
they were in the Tower, being at least five or six
locks between her lodgings and her walks ; Sir Hen-
ry himself keeping the keys, and trusting no man
therewith. Whereupon she called him her jailer :
and he kneeling down, desired her grace not to call
him so, for he was appointed there to be one of her
officers. From such officers (quoth she,) good Lord,
deliver me.

And now by the way, as digressing, or rather re-
freshing the reader, if it be lawful in so serious a sto-
ry to recite a matter incident, and yet not imperti-
nent to the same ; occasion here moveth, or rather
inforceth me to touch briefly what happened in the
same place and time, by a certain merry conceited
man, being then about her grace : who observing the
strict and strange keeping of his lady and mistress,

382 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

by the said Sir Henry Benifield, with so many locks
and doors, with such a watch and guard about her,
as was strange and wonderful, espied a goat in the
ward where her grace was ; and whether to refresh
her oppressed mind, or to notify her strait handling
by Sir Henry, or else both, he took it upon his neck,
and followed her grace therewith as she was going
into her lodging.

Which when she saw, she asked him what he would
do with it, desiring him to let it alone. The man
answered, no, by St. Mary (if it please your grace,)
will I not ; for I cannot tell, whether he be one 01
the queen's friends or not. I will carry him to Sii
Henry Benifield (God willing) to know what he is ;
so leaving her grace, he went with the goat on his
neck, and carried it to Sir Henry : who when he saw
him coming with it, asked him, half angrily, what he
had there.

Unto whom the man answered, saying, sir, I can-
not tell what he is. 1 pray you examine him, for I
" found him in the place where my lady's grace was
walking, and what talk they have had I cannot tell.
For I understand him not, but he should seem to me
to be some stranger, and I think verily a Welchman,
for he hath a white frieze coat on his back. And
forsomuch as I being the queen's subject, and per-
ceiving the strict charge committed to you, that no
stranger should have access to her without sufficient
license, I have here found a stranger (what he is ]
cannot tell,) in the place where her grace was walk
ing ; and therefore for the necessary discharge of my
duty, I thought it good to bring the said stranger to
you, to examine as you see cause ; and so he set him
down. At this Sir Henry seemed much displeased,
and said, well, well, you will never leave this gear,
I see ; and so they departed.

Now to return to the matter from whence we have
digressed, after her grace had been there a time, she
applied to the council for leave to write to the queen

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 383

This at last was permitted. So Sir Henry Benifield
brought her pen. ink, and paper ; and standing by her
while she wrote (which he strictly observed,) she be-
ing sometimes weary, he would carry away her let-
ters, and bring them again when she called for them.
When she had finished, he would fain have been mes-
senger to the queen with the same. Whose request
her grace denied, saying one of her own men should
carry them, and that she would neither trust him, nor
any of his, with them.

Then he answered again, saying, none of them
durst be so bold (he thought) as to carry her letters
for her in her present situation. Yes, said she, I am
assured I have none so dishonest as to deny my re-
quest in that behalf, but will be as willing to serve
me now as before. Well, said he, my commission is
to the contrary, and I may not so suffer it. Her
grace replying again, said, you charge me very often
with your commission. I pray God you may justly
answer the cruel dealings you use toward me.

Then he kneeling down, desired her grace to think
and consider how he was a servant, and put in trust
there by the queen to serve her majesty ; protesting,
that if the case were hers, he would as willingly serve
her grace, as now he did the queen's highness. For
which answer her grace thanked him, desiring God
that she might never have need of such servants as
he was ; declaring further to him, that his doings to-
wards her were not good nor answerable, but more
than all the friends he had would stand by.

To whom Sir Henry replied, and said, that there
was no remedy but his doings must be answered, and
so they should, trusting to make good account there-
of. The cause which moved her grace so to say,
was, for that he would not permit her letters to be
carried four or five days after the writing thereof.
But, in fine/he was content to send for her gentle-
man from the town of Woodstock, demanding of him
whether he durst enterprize the carriage of her

384 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

grace's letters to the queen , or no ; and lie answer-
ed, yes sir, that I dare, and will with all my heart.
Whereupon Sir Henry, half against his will, took
them unto him.

Then about the eighth of June came down Dr.
Owen and Dr. Wendy, sent by the queen to her grace,
for that she was sickly ; who ministering to her, and
letting her blood, tarried there, and attended on her
grace five or six r days. Then she being well amend-
ed, they returned again to the court, making their
good report to the queen and council of her grace's
behaviour and humility towards the queen's highness.
Which her majesty hearing, took very thankfully ;
but the bishops repined thereat, looked black in the
mouth, and told the queen they marvelled much that
she submitted not herself to her majesty's mercy,
considering that she had offended her highness.

About this tftne, her grace was requested by a se-
cret friend to submit herself to the queen's majesty,
which would be well taken, and to her great quiet
and advantage. Unto whom she answered, that she
would never submit herself to them whom she never
offended. For (quoth she) if 1 have offended and am
guilty, I then crave no mercy, but the law, which I
am certain I should have had before this, if it could
be proved by me. For I know myself (I thank God)
to be out of the danger thereof, wishing that I were
as clear out of the peril of my enemies ; and then I
am assured I should not be so locked and bolted up
within walls and doors as I am. God give them a
better mind when it pleaseth him.

About this time there was a great consultation
among the bishops and gentlemen, touching the mar-
riage of her grace, which some of the Spaniards wish-
ed to be with some stranger, that she might go out
of the realm with her portion ; some saying one thing
and some another.

A lord (who shall be here nameless) being there,
at last said, that the king should never have any quiet

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 385

ittMtwitenwealth in England, unless her head was se-
vered from her shoulders. Whereunto the Spaniards
answered, saying, God forbid that their king and
master should have that mind to consent to such a
mischief.

This was the courteous answer of the Spaniards to
the Englishmen, speaking after that sort against their
own country. From that day the Spaniards never
left off their good persuasions to the kino-, that the
like honour he should never obtain, as he should in
delivering the lady Elizabeth's grace out of prison ;
whereby at length she was happily released from the
same. Here is a plain and evident example of the
good clemency and nature of the king and his coun-
sellors toward her grace, (praised be God therefor,)
who moved their hearts therein. Then hereupon she
was sent for shortly after to come to Hampton-court.

But before her removing away from Woodstock,
we will stay a little to declare in what dangers her
life was during the time she remained there: first
through fire, which began to kindle, between the
boards and ceiling under the chamber where she lay,
whether by a spark of fire getting accidentally into a
crevice, or whether for the purpose by some that
meant her no good, the Lord doth know. Never-
theless, a worshipful knight of Oxfordshire, which
was there joined the same time with sir Henry Beni-
field in keeping that lady, (who then took up the
boards and quenched the fire,) verily supposed it to
De done for the purpose.

Furthermore it is thought and affirmed (for truth)
af one Paul Penny, the keeper of Woodstock, a noto-
rious ruffian, and a butchery wretch, that he was
appointed to assassinate the said lady Elizabeth ; who
both saw the man, being often in her sight, and also
knew thereof.

Another time, one of the privy chamber, a great
man about the queen, and chief darling of Stephen
Gardiner, named James Basset, came to Blanden-
33

386 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

bridge, a mile from Woodstock, with twenty or thirty
privy coats, and sent for sir Henry Benifield to come
and speak with him. But as God would, who dis-
poseth all things according to his own will, so it
happened, that a little before, the said sir Henry
Benifield was sent for by post to the council, leaving
strict word behind him with his brother, that no man,
whosoever he were, though coming with a note of
the queen's hand, or any other warrant, should have
access to her before his return again. By reason
whereof it so fell out, that Mr. Beni field's brother,
coming to him at the bridge, would suffer him in no
case to come in, otherwise (as is supposed) was ap-
pointed violently to murder the innocent lady.

There moreover is to be noted, that during the
imprisonment of this lady and princess, one Mr. Ed-
mund Tremaine was on the rack, and Mr. Smith-
wike, and others in the Tower, were examined, and
divers offers made to them to accuse the guiltless la-
dy, being in her captivity. Howbeit, all that not-
withstanding, no matter could be proved by all exa-
minations, as she the same time lying at Woodstock
had certain intelligence by the means of one John
Gayer ; who under a colourable pretence of a letter
to Mrs. Cleve from her father, was let in, and so gave
them secretly to understand of all this matter. Where-
upon the lady Elizabeth, at her departing out from
Woodstock, wrote these lines with her diamond in a
glass window :

Much suspected by me,
Nothing proved can be,

Uuoth Elizabeth, Prisoner.

And thus much touching the troubles of lad> Eli-
zabeth at Woodstock. Whereunto this is more to be
added, that during the same time, the lord of Tame
had laboured to the queen, and became surety for
her, to have her from Woodstock to his house, and
had obtained a grant thereof. Thereupon prepara-
tion was made accordingly, and all things ready in

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 387

expectation of her coming. But through the pro-
curement either of Mr. Benifield, or by the advice of
Winchester, her mortal enemy, letters came over-
night to the contrary; whereby her journey was
stopped.

Thus this worthy lady, oppressed with continued
sorrow, could not be permitted to have recourse to
any friends she had, but still in the hands of her ene-
mies was left desolate, and utterly destitute of all
that might refresh a doleful heart, fraught full of ter-
ror and thraldom. Whereupon no marvel if she
hearing upon a time, out of her garden at Woodstock,
a certain milkmaid singing pleasantly, wished herself
to be a milkmaid as she was, saying that her case
was better and life more merry than hers, in that
state as she was.

Now after these things thus declared, to proceed
farther there where we left before, sir Henry Beni-
field and his soldiers, with the lord of Tame, and sir
Ralph Chamberline, guarding and waiting upon her,
the first night from Woodstock she -came to Ricot.
In which journey such a mighty wind did blow, that
her hood was twice or thrice blown from her head.
Thereupon she desiring to return to a certain gentle*
man's house there near, could not be suffered by sir
Henry Benifield so to do, but was constrained under
a hedge to trim her head as well as she could.

After this, the next day they journeyed to Mr. Dor-
mer's, and so to Colbroke, where she lay all that
night at the George, and by the way coming to Col-
broke, certain of her grace's gentlemen and yeomen
met her, to the number of threescore, much to all
their comforts, who had not seen her grace for a long
time before : notwithstanding they were command-
ed in the queen's name immediately to depart the
town, to both theirs and her grace's no little heavi-
ness, who could not be suffered once to speak with
him. So that night all her men were taken from her,
saving her gentleman-usher, three gentlewomen, two

388 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

grooms, and one of her wardrobe, the soldiers watch-
ing and warding about the house, and she close shut
upVithin her prison.

The next day following, her grace entered Hamp-
ton-Court, and came into the prince's lodging : the
doors being shut upon her, and she guarded with sol-
diers as before, lay there a fortnight at least, before
any had recourse unto her : at length came the lord
William Haward, who used her grace honourably.
Whereat she took much comfort, requested him to
be a means that she might speak with some of the
council. To whom not long after came the bishop
of Winchester, and the lord of Arundel, the lord of
Shrewsbury, secretary Peter, who with great humi-
lity humbled themselves to her grace. She again
likewise saluting them, said, my lords, 1 am glad to
see you: for methinks I have been kept a great while
from you desolate and alone. Wherefore I would
desire you to be a means to the king and queen, that
I may be delivered from prison, wherein I have been
kept a long time, as to you, my lords, is well known.

When she had spoken, Stephen Gardiner, the bish-
op of Winchester, kneeled down, and requested that
she would submit herself to the queen's grace, and in
so doing he had no doubt but that her majesty would
be good to her : she made answer, that rather than
she would so do, she would lay in prison all the days
of her life ; adding, that she craved no mercy at her
majesty's hand, but rather desired the law, if ever
she did offend her majesty in thought, word, or deed :
and besides this, in yielding (quoth she) I should
speak against myself, and confess myself to be an
offender, which I never was towards her majesty, by
occasion whereof the king and queen might ever
hereafter conceive of me an evil opinion: and there-
fore, I say, my lords, it were better for me to lie in
prison for the truth, than to be abroad and suspected
by my prince. And so they departed, promising to
declare her message to the queen.

PRIJfCESS ELIZABETH. 389

On the next day the Bishop of Winchester came
again unto her grace, and kneeling down, declared
that the queen marvelled that she should so stoutly
use herself, not confessing that she had offended : so
that it should seem that the queen's majesty had
wrongfully imprisoned her grace.

Nay, quoth the lady Elizabeth, it may please her
to punish me as she thinketh good.

Well, quoth Gardiner, her majesty willeth me to
tell yon, that you must tell another tale before that
you be set at liberty.

Her grace answered, that she had as soon be in
prison with honesty and truth, as to be abroad, sus- *
pected by her majesty ; and this that I have said, I
will stand unto, for I will never belie myself.

Winchester again kneeled down, and said, then
your grace hath the advantage of me and other lords
for your wrong and long imprisonment.

What advantage I have (quoth she) you know ;
taking God to record, I seek no advantage at your
hands for your so dealing with me, but God forgive
you and me also. AYith that the rest kneeled, desir-
ing her grace that all might be forgotten, and so de-
parted, she being fast locked up again.

A seven-night after the qneen sent for her grace
at ten o'clock at night to speak with her : for she
had not seen her for two years before. Yet for all
that, she was amazed at the suddenness of the mes-
sage, thinking it had been worse than afterwards it
proved, desired her gentlemen and gentlewomen to
pray for her ; for that she could not tell whether ever
she should see them again or no.

At which time sir Henry Benin* eld with Mrs. Cla-
rencius coming in, her grace was brought into the
garden, unto a stair's foot that went into the queen's
lodging, her grace's gentlewomen waiting upon her,
her gentleman-usher, and her grooms, going before
with torches : where her gentlemen and gentlewo-
men being commanded to stay, all, saving one wo-
33*

390 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

man, Mrs. Ciarencius conducted her to the queen's
bedchamber, where her majesty was.

At the sight of whom her grace kneeled down, and
desired God to preserve her majesty, not mistrusting
but that she should prove herself as true a subject
towards her majesty as ever any did, and desired her
majesty even so to judge of her ; and said, that she
should not find her to the contrary, whatsoever re-
port otherwise had gone of her.

To whom the queen answered, you will not con-
fess your offence, but stand stoutly to your truth : I
pray God it may so fall out.

If it doth not, (quoth the lady Elizabeth,) I request
neither favour nor pardon at your majesty's hands.
Well, (said the queen,) you stiffly still persevere in
your truth. Belike you will not confess but that you
have been wrongfully punished.

I must not say so (if it please your majesty) to you.

Why then (said the queen) belike you will to others.

No, if it please your majesty, (quoth she,) I have
borne the burden, and must bear it. I humbly be-
seech your majesty to have a good opinion of me,
and to think me to be your true subject, not only
from the beginning hitherto, but for ever, as long as
life lasteth : and so they departed with very few com-
fortable words of the queen, in English : but what
she said in Spanish, God knoweth. It was thought
that king Philip was there behind a cloth, and not
seen, and that he showed himself a very great friend
in that matter, &c.

Thus her grace departing, went to her lodging
again, and that day seven-night was released of sir
Henry Benineld, her jailer (as she termed him) and
his soldiers, and so her grace being set at liberty
from imprisonment, went into the country, and had
appointed to go with her sir Thomas Pope, one of
queen Mary's counsellors, and one of her gentlemen-
ushers, Mr. Gage, and thus strictly was she looked
after all queen Mary's time. And this is the dis-
course of her highness's imprisonment.

PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 301

Then there came to Lamhevre, Mr. Jerningbam
and Mr. Norris, gentlemen-ushers, queen Mary's men,
who took away from her grace Mrs. Ashly to the
Fleet, and three other of her gentlewomen to the
Tower ■ which thing was no little trouble to her
grace, saying that she thought they would fetch all
away at the end. But, God be praised, shortly after
was fetched away Gardiner, through the merciful
providence of the Lord's goodness, by occasion of
whose opportune decease (as is partly touched in this
story before) the life of this excellent princess, and
the wealth of England, were preserved. For this is
credibly to be supposed, that the said wicked Gardi-
ner of Winchester had long laboured his wits, and to
this only most principal mark bent all his devices, to
take this our happy and dear sovereign out of the
way ; as both by his words and doings before noti-
fied, may sufficiently appear.

But such was the gracious and favourable provi-
dence of the Lord, to the preservation not only of her
royal majesty, but also of the miserable and woful
state of this whole island, and poor subjects of the
same, whereby the proud platform and peevish prac-
tices of this wicked Ahithopel prevailed not ; but
contrariwise, both he and ali the snares and traps of
his pernicious council laid against another, were
turned to a net to catch himself, according to the
proverb, < ; The mischief he designed for another, fell
upon his own head."

After the death of this Gardiner, followed the death
also and drooping away of other her enemies, where-
by little and little her jeopardy decreased, fear dimin-
ished, hope of comfort began to appear as out of a
dark cloud : and albeit as yet her grace had no full
assurance of perfect safety, yet more gentle entertain-
ment daily did grow unto her, till at length, in the
month of November, and seventeenth day of the same,
three years after the death of Stephen Gardiner, fol-
lowed the death of queen Mary.

392 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

BOOK XII.

A general account of the attempts made by the Papists to over-
turn the Protestant government of England, from the accession
of GLueen Elizabeth, to the reign of George II.

SECTION I.

HORRID CONSPIRACY BY THE PAPISTS FOR THE
DESTRUCTION OF JAMES I., THE ROYAL FAMILY,
AND BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT ] COMMONLY
KNOWN BY THE NAME OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT.

The papists (of which there were great numbers
in England at the time of the intended Spanish inva-
sion) were so irritated at the failure of that expedi-
tion that they were determined, if possible, to pro-
ject a scheme at home, that might answer the pur-
poses, in some degree, of the blood-thirsty competi-
tors. The vigorous administration of Elizabeth,
however, prevented their carrying any of their ini-
quitous designs into execution, although they made
many attempts with that view. The commence-
ment of the reign of her successor was destined to be
the era of a plot, the barbarity of which transcends
every thing related in ancient and modern history.

In order to crush popery in the most effectual
manner in this kingdom, James, soon after his acces-
sion, took proper measures for eclipsing the power of
the Roman Catholics, by enforcing those laws which
had been made against them by his predecessors
This enraged the papists to such a degree, that a con
spiracy was formed by some of the principal leaders
of the most daring and impious nature ; namely, to
blow up the king, royal family, and both houses of
parliament, while in full session, and thus to involve
the nation in utter and inevitable ruin.

The cabal who formed the resolution of putting in
practice this horrid scheme, consisted of the follow-
ing persons ; Henry Garnet, an Englishman, who,

GUNPOWDER PLOT. 393

about the year 1586, had been sent to England as
superior of the English Jesuits ; Catesby, an English
gentleman ; Tesmond, a Jesuit ; Thomas Wright ;
two gentlemen of the name of Winter ; Thomas Per-
cy, a near relation of the earl of Northumberland ;
Guido Fawkes, a bold and enterprising soldier of for-
tune ; Sir Edward Digby ; John Grant, Esq. ; Fran-
cis Tresham, Esq. ; Robert Keyes and Thomas
Bates, gentlemen.

Most of these were men both of birth and fortune ;
and Catesby, who had a large estate, had already ex-
pended two thousand pounds in several voyages to
the court of Spain, in order to introduce an army of
Spaniards into England, for overturning the protest-
ant government, and restoring the Roman Catholic
religion ; but, being disappointed in this project of an
invasion, he took an opportunity of disclosing to Per-
cy, (who was his intimate friend, and who, in a sud-
den fit of passion, had hinted a design of assassina-
ting the king,) a nobler and more extensive plan of
treason, such as would include a sure execution of
vengeance, and, at one blow, consign over to destruc-
tion all their enemies.

Percy assented to the project proposed by Catesby,
and they resolved to impart the matter to a few more,
and, by degrees, to all the rest of their cabal, every
man being bound by an oath, and taking the sacra-
ment (the most sacred rite of their religion) not to
disclose the least syllable of the matter, or to with-
draw from the association, without the consent of all
persons concerned.

These consultations were held in the spring and
summer of the year 1604, and it was towards the
close of that year that they began their operations ;
the manner of which, and the discovery, we shall re-
late with as much brevity as is consistent with perspi-
cuity.

It had been agreed that a few of the conspirators
should run a mine below the hall in which the par-

394 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

liament was to assemble, and that they should choose
the very moment when the king should deliver his
speech to both houses, for springing the mine, and
thus, by one blow, cut off the king, the royal family,
lords, commons, and all other enemies of the Catho-
lic religion, in that very spot where that religion had
been most oppressed. For this purpose Percy, who
was at that time a gentleman-pensioner, undertook to
hire a house adjoining to the upper house of parlia-
ment, with all diligence. This was accordingly done,
and the conspirators, expecting the parliament would
meet on the 17th of February following, began, on
the 11th of December, to dig in the cellar, through
the wall of partition, which was three yards thick.
There were seven in number joined in this labour :
they went in by night, and never after appeared in
sight, for, having supplied themselves with all neces-
sary provisions, they had no occasion to go out. In
case of discovery, they had provided themselves with
powder, shot, and fire-arms, and had formed a reso-
lution rather to die than be taken.

On Candlemas-day, 1605, they had dug so far
through the wall as to be able to hear a noise on the ,
other side ; upon which unexpected event, fearing a
discovery, Guido Fawkes (who personated Percy's
footman) was despatched to know the occasion, and
returned with the favourable report, that the place
from whence the noise came was a large cellar, under
the upper house of parliament, full of sea-coal, which
was then on sale, and the cellar offered to be let.

On this information, Percy immediately hired the
cellar, and bought the remainder of the coals : he
then sent for thirty barrels of gunpowder from Hol-
land, and landing them at Lambeth, conveyed them
gradually by night to this cellar, where they were
covered with stones, iron bars, a thousand billets,
and five hundred fagots ; all of which they did at
their leisure, the parliament being prorogued to tho
5th of November.

GUNPOWDER PLOT. 395

This being done, the conspirators next consulted
low they should secure the Duke of York,* who was
V)o young to be expected at the parliament-house,
and his sister the princess Elizabeth, educated at lord
Harrington's in Warwickshire. It was resolved, that
Percy and another should enter into the duke's cham-
ber, and a dozen more, properly disposed at several
doors, with two or three on horseback at the court-
gate to receive him, should carry him safe away as
soon as the parliament-house was blown up ; or, if
that could not be effected, that they should kill him,
and declare the princess Elizabeth queen, having se-
cured her, under pretence of a hunting-match, that
day.

Several of the conspirators proposed obtaining for-
eign aid previous to the execution of their design ;
but this was overruled, and it was agreed only to
apply to France, Spain, and other powers for assist-
ance after the plot had taken effect : they also resol-
ved to proclaim the princess Elizabeth queen, and to
spread a report, after the blow was given, that the
puritans were the perpetrators of so inhuman an
action.

All matters being now prepared by the conspira-
tors, they, without the least remorse of conscience,
and with the utmost impatience, expected the 5th of
November. But all their counsels were blasted by a
happy and providential circumstance. One of the
conspirators, having a desire to save William Parker,
lord Monteagle, sent him the following letter :
" My Lord,

" Out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I
have a care for your preservation ; therefore I advise
you, as you tender your life, to devise you some ex-
cuse to shift off your attendance at this parliament ;
for God and man have concurred to punish the wick-
edness of this time : and think not slightly of this
advertisement, but retire yourself into the country,

* Afterward Charles L

396 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

where you may expect the event with safety ; for
though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say
they shall receive a terrible blow, this parliament,
and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This
counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do
you good, and can do you no harm: for the danger
is past so soon (or as quickly) as you burn this let-
ter ; and I hope God will give you the grace to make
good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend
you. 57

The lord Monteagle was for some time at a loss
what judgment to form of this letter, and unresolved
whether he should slight the advertisement or not ;
and fancying it a trick of his enemies to frighten him
into an absence from parliament, would have deter-
mined on the former, had his own safety been only
in question : but apprehending the king's life might
be in danger, he took the letter at midnight to the
earl of Salisbury, who was equally puzzled about the
meaning of it ; and though he was inclined to think
it merely a wild and waggish contrivance to alarm
Monteagle, yet he thought proper to consult about it
with the earl of Suffolk, lord chamberlain. The ex-
pression, " that the blow should come without know-
ing who hurt them," made them imagine that it would
not be more proper than the time of parliament, nor
by any other way like to be attempted than by gun-
powder, while the king was sitting in that assembly :
the lord chamberlain thought this the more probable,
because there was a great cellar under the parlia-
ment chamber, (as already mentioned,) never used
for any thing but wood or coal, belonging to Wine-
yard, the keeper of the palace ; and having commu-
nicated the letter to the earls of Nottingham, Wor-
cester, and Northampton, they proceeded no farther
till the king came from Royston, on the 1st of No-
vember.

His majesty being shown the letter by the earls,
who at the same time acquainted him with their sus-

GUNPOWDER PLOT. 397

piciotis, was of opinion that either nothing should be
done, or else enough to prevent the danger ; and that
a search should be made on the day preceding that
designed for the execution of the diabolical enter-
prise.

Accordingly, on Monday, the 4th of November, in
the afternoon, the lord chamberlain, whose office it
was to see all things put in readiness for the king's
coming, accompanied by Monteagle, went to visit all
places about the parliament-house, and taking a slight
occasion to see the cellar, observed only piles of bil-
lets and fagots, but in greater number than he thought
Wineyard could want for his own use. On his ask-
ing who owned the wood, and being told it belonged
to one Mr. Percy, he began to have some suspicions,
knowing him to be a rigid papist, and so seldom there
that he had no occasion for such a quantity of fuel ;
and Monteagle confirmed him therein, by observing
that Percy had made him great professions of friend-
ship.

Though there were no other materials visible, -yet
Suffolk thought it was necessary to make a further
search ; and, upon his return to the king, a resolu-
tion was taken that it should be made in such a man-
ner as should be effectual, without scandalizing any
body, or giving any alarm.

Sir Thomas Knevet, steward of Westminster, was
accordingly ordered, under the pretext of searching
for stolen tapestry hangings in that place, and other
houses thereabouts, to remove the wood, and see if
any thing was concealed underneath. This gentle-
man going at midnight, with several attendants, to
the cellar, met Fawkes, just coming out of it, booted
and spurred, with a tinder-box and three matches in
his pockets ; and seizing him without any ceremony,
or asking him any questions, as soon as the removal
of the wood discovered the barrels of gunpowder, he
caused him to be bound, and properly secured.
3i

398 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Fawkes, who was a hardened and intrepid villain,
made no hesitation of avowing the design, and that
it was to have heen executed on the morrow. He
made the same acknowledgment at his examination
before a committee of the council ; and though he did
not deny having some associates in this conspiracy,
yet no threats of torture could make him discover any
of them, he declaring that " he was ready to die, and
had rather suffer ten thousand deaths, than willing-
ly accuse his master, or any other."

By repeated examinations, however, and assuran-
ces of his master's being apprehended, he at length
acknowledged, " that whilst he was abroad, Percy
had kept the keys of the cellar, had been in it since
the powder had been laid there, and, in effect, that
he was one of the principal actors in the intended
tragedy."

In the mean time it was found out, that Percy had
come post out of the north on Saturday night, the 2d
of November, and had dined on Monday at Sion-
House, with the earl of Northumberland ; that Fawkes
had met him on the road ; and that, after the lord
chamberlain had been that evening in the cellar, he
went, about six o'clock, to his master, who had fled
immediately, apprehending the plot was detected.

The news of the discovery immediately spreading,
the conspirators fled different wrjs, but chiefly into
Warwickshire, where Sir Everard Digby had appoint-
ed a hunting match, near Dunchurch, to get a num-
ber of recusants together, sufficient to seize the prin-
cess Elizabeth ; but this design was prevented by her
taking refuge in Coventry ; and their whole party,
making about one hundred, retired to Holbeach, the '
seat of Sir Stephen Littleton, on the borders of Staf-
fordshire, having broken open stables, and taken
horses from different people in the adjoining coun-
ties.

Sir Richard Walsh, high-sheriff of Worcestershire,
pursued them to Holbeach, where he invested them,

GUNPOWDER PLOT. 399

and summoned them to surrender. In preparing for
their defence, they put some moist powdei before a
fire to dry, and a spark from the coals setting it on
fire, some of the conspirators were so burned in their
faces, thighs, and arms, that they were scarcely able
to handle their weapons. Their case was desperate,
and no means of escape appearing, unless by forcing
their way through the assailants, they made a furious
sally for that purpose. Catesby (who first proposed
the manner of the plot) and Percy were both killed.
Thomas Winter, Grant, Digby, Rookwood. and Bates,
were taken and carried to London, where the first
made a full discovery of the conspiracy. Treshharn,
lurking about the city, and frequently shifting his
quarters, was apprehended soon after, and, having
confessed the whole matter, died of the strangury in
the Tower. The earl of Northumberland, suspected
on account of his being related to Thomas Percy,
was, byway of precaution, committed to the custody
of the archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, and was
afterwards fined thirty thousand pounds, and sent to
the Tower, for admitting Percy into the band of gen-
tlemen pensioners, without tendering him the oath of
supremacy.

Some escaped to Calais, and arriving there with
others who fled to avoid a persecution, which they
apprehended on this occasion, were kindly received
by the governor ; but one of them declaring before
him, that he was not so much concerned at his exile
as that the powder-plot did not take effect ; the gov-
ernor was so much incensed at his glorying in such
an execrable piece of iniquity, that, in a sudden im-
pulse of indignation, he endeavoured to throw him
into the sea.

On the 27th of January, 1606, eight of the conspi-
rators were tried and convicted ; among whom was
Sir Everard Digby, the only one that had pleaded
guilty to the indictment, though all the rest had con-
fessed their guilt before. Digby was executed on

400 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

the 30th of the same month, with Robert Winter,
Grant, and Bates, at the west end of St. Paul's
church-yard ; Thomas Winter, Keyes, Rookwood,
and Fawkes, were executed the following day in Old
Palace yard.

Garnet was tried on the 28th of March, " for his
knowledge and concealment of the conspiracy ; for
administering an oath of secrecy to the conspirators ;
for persuading them of the lawfulness of the treason,
and for praying for the success of the great action in
hand at the beginning of parliament." Being found
guilty,* he received sentence of death, but was not
executed till the 3d of May, when, confessing his
own guilt, and the iniquity of the enterprise, he ex-
horted all Roman Catholics to abstain from the like
treasonable practices in future. Gerard and Hull,
two Jesuits, got abroad ; and Littleton, with several
others, were executed in the country.

The lord Monteagle had a grant of two hundred
pounds a year in land, and a pension of five hundred
pounds for life, as a reward for discovering the letter
which gave the first hint of the conspiracy ; and the
anniversary of this providential deliverance was or-
dered to be for ever commemorated by prayer and
thanksgiving.

Thus was this diabolical scheme happily rendered
abortive, and the authors of it brought to that condign
punishment which their wickedness merited. In this
affair Providence manifestly interposed in behalf of
the protestants, and saved them from that destruction
which must have taken place, had the scheme suc-
ceeded according to the wishes of a bigoted, super-
stitious, and blood-thirsty faction.

* Although Garnet was convicted of this horrible crime, yet the
bigoted Papists were so besotted as to look upon him as an object of
devotion ; they fancied that miracles were wrought by his blood, and
regarded him as a martyr ! Such is the deadening and perverting
influence of Popery !

PERSECUTIONS IN IRELAND. 401

SECTION 11.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION
IN TRKT.AND ' WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE BARBA-
RuUS MASSACRE OF 1641.

The gloom of popery had overshadowed Ireland,
from its first establishment there till the reign of Hen-
ry VIII. j when the rays of the gospel began to dispel
the darkness, and afford that light which had till
then been unknown in that island. The abject ig-
norance in which the people were held, with the ab-
surd and superstitious notions they entertained, were
sufficiently evident to many ; and the artifices of their
priests were so conspicuous, that several persons of
distinction, who had hitherto been strenuous papists,
would willingly have endeavoured to shake off the
yoke, and embrace the protestant religion ; but the
natural ferocity of the people, and their strong attach-
ment to the ridiculous doctrines which they had been
taught, made the attempt dangerous. It was, how-
ever, at length undertaken, though attended with the
most horrid and disastrous consequences.

The introduction of the protestant religion into
Ireland, may be principally attributed to George
Browne, an Englishman, who was consecrated arch-
bishop of Dublin, on the 19th of March, 1535. He
had formerly been an Augustine friar, and was pro-
moted to the mitre on account of his merit.

After having enjoyed his dignity about five years,
he, at the time that Henry VIII. was suppressing the
religious houses in England, caused all the relics and
images to be removed out of the two cathedrals in
Dublin, and the other churches in his diocess ; in the
place of which he caused to be put up the Lord's
Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.

A short time after this he received a letter from
Thomas Cromwell, lord privy-seal, informing him
that Henry VIII. having thrown off the papal supre-

fc 31*

402 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

rnacy in England, was determined to do the like in
Ireland ; and that he thereupon had appointed him
(archbishop Browne) one of the commissioners for
seeing this order put in execution. The archbishop
answered that he had employed his utmost endea-
vours, at the hazard of his life, to cause the Irish no-
bility and gentry to acknowledge Henry as their su-
preme head, in matters both spiritual and temporal ;
but had met with a most violent opposition, especially
from George, archbishop of Armagh : that this prelate
had, in a speech to his clergy, laid a curse on all those
who should own his highness's* supremacy ; adding,
that their isle, called in the Chronicles Insula Sacra,
or the Holy Island, belonged to none but the bishop of
Rome ; and that the king's progenitors had received
it from the pope. He observed likewise, that the
archbishop, and the clergy of Armagh, had each des
patched a courier to Rome ; and that it would be
necessary for a parliament to be called in Ireland, to
pass an act of supremacy, the people not regarding
the king's commission without the sanction of the
legislative assembly. He concluded with observing,
that the popes had kept the people in the most pro-
found ignorance ; that the clergy were exceedingly
illiterate ; that the common people were more zeal-
ous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs
had been in the defence of truth at the beginning of
the gospel ; and that it was to be feared Shan O'Neal,
a chieftain of great power in the northern part of the
island, was decidedly opposed to the king's commis
sion.

In pursuance of this advice, the following year a
parliament was summoned to meet at Dublin, by or-
der of Leonard Grey, at that time lord-lieutenant.
At this assembly archbishop Browne made a speech,
in which he set forth, that the bishops of Rome
used, anciently, to acknowledge emperors, kings, and

* The king of England was at that time called highness, not majes-
ty, as at present.

PERSECUTIONS IN IRELAND. 403

princes, to be supreme in their own dominions ;
and, therefore, that he himself would vote king Hen-
ry VIII. as supreme in all matters, both ecclesiastical
and temporal. He concluded with saying, that who-
soever should refuse to vote for this act, was not a
true subject of the king. This speech greatly startled
the other bishops and lords ; but at length, after vio-
lent debates, the king's supremacy was allowed.

Two years after this, the archbishop wrote a se-
cond letter to Cromwell, complaining of the clergy,
and hinting at the machinations which the pope was
then carrying on against the advocates of the gospel.
This letter is dated from Dublin, in -April, 1538;
and among other matters, the archbishop says, " A
bird may be taught to speak with as much sense as
many of the clergy do in this country. These,
though not scholars, yet are crafty to cozen the poor
common people, and to dissuade them from following
his highness's orders. The country folks here much
hate your lordship, and despitefully call you, in their
Irish tongue, the Blacksmith's Son. As a friend, I
desire your lordship to look to your noble person.
Rome hath a great kindness for the duke of Norfolk,
and great favours for this nation, purposely to oppose
his highness."

A short time after this, the pope sent over to Ire-
land^directed to the archbishop of Armagh and his
clergy) a bull of ex-communication against all who
had, or should own the king's supremacy within the
Irish nation ; denouncing a curse on all of them and
theirs, who should not, within forty days, acknowl-
edge to their confessors that they had done amiss in
so doing.

Archbishop Browne gave notice of this in a letter,
dated Dublin, May, 1538. Part of the form of con-
fession, or vow, sent over to these Irish papists, ran
as follows : " I do further declare, him or her, father
or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter, husband
or wife, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, kinsman or

404 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

kinswoman, master or mistress, and all others, near-
est or dearest relations, friends or acquaintance what-
soever, accursed, that either do or shall hold, for the
time to come, any ecclesiastical or civil power above
the authority of the mother-church ; or that do or
shall obey, for the time to come, any of her the
mother of churches' opposers or enemies, or contrary
to the same, of which I have here sworn unto : so
God, the Blessed Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the
Holy Evangelists, help me, <fcc." This is an exact
agreement with the doctrines promulgated by the
councils of Lateran and Constance, which expressly
declare, that no favour should be shown to heretics,
nor faith kept with them ; that they ought to be ex-
communicated and condemned, and their estates
confiscated ; and that princes are obliged, by a
solemn oath, to root them out of their respective
dominions.

How abominable a church must that be, which
thus dares to trample upon all authority ! how be-
sotted the people who regard the injunctions .of such
a church !

In the archbishop's last mentioned letter, dated
May, 1538, he says, "His highness's viceroy of this
nation is of little or no power, with the old natives.
Now both English and Irish begin to oppose your
lordship's orders, and to lay aside their national quar-
rels, which I fear will (if any thing will) cause a
foreigner to invade this nation."

Not long after this, archbishop Browne seized one
Thady O'Brian, a Franciscan friar, who had in his
possession a paper sent from Rome, dated May, 1538,
and directed to O'Neal. In this letter were the fol-
lowing words : " His holiness Paul, now pope, and
the counci). of the fathers, have lately found, in Rome,
a prophecy of one St. Lacerianus, an Irish bishop of
Cashel, in which he saith, that the mother-church of
Rome falleth, when, in Ireland, the Catholic faith is
overcome. Therefore, for the glory of the mother-

REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 405

church, the honour of St. Peter, and your own se-
cureness, suppress heresy, and his holiness's ene-
mies."

This Thady O'Brian, after farther examination and
search made, was pilloried, and kept close prisoner,
till the king's orders arrived in what manner he should
be farther disposed of. But order coming" over from
England that he was to be hanged, he laid violent
hands on himself in the castle of Dublin. His body
was afterwards carried to Gallows-green, where, af-
ter being hanged up for some time, it was interred.

After the accession of Edward VI. to the throne
of England, an order was directed to sir Anthony Le-
ger, Jhe lord-deputy of Ireland, commanding that the
liturgy in English be forthwith set up in Ireland,
there to be observed within the several bishoprics,
cathedrals, and parish churches; and it was first read
in Christ-church, Dublin, on Easter-day, 1551, be-
fore the said sir Anthony, archbishop Browne, and
others. Part of the royal order for this purpose was
as follows: "Whereas our gracious father, king Hen-
ry VIII., taking into consideration the bondage and
heavy yoke that his true and faithful subjects sustain-
ed, under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome ;
how several fabulous stories and lying wonders mis-
led our subjects ; dispensing with the sins of our na-
tion, by their indulgences and pardons, for gain ;
purposely to cherish all evil vices, as robberies, re-
bellions, theft, whoredom, blasphemy, idolatry, <fcc.
our gracious father hereupon dissolved all priories,
monasteries, abbeys, and other pretended religious
houses ; as being but nurseries for vice or luxury,
more than for sacred learning, &c."

On the day after the common-prayer was first used
in Christ-church, Dublin, the following wicked scheme
was projected by the papists :

In the church was left a marble image of Christ,
holding a reed in his hand, with a crown of thorns
on his head. Whilst the English service (the Com-

406 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

mon Prayer) was being read before the lord-lieuten
ant, the archbishop of Dublin, the privy-council,
the lord-mayor, and a great congregation, blood was
seen to run through the crevices of the crown of
thorns, and to trickle down the face of the image.
On this, some of the contrivers of the imposture cried
aloud : " See how our Saviour's image sweats blood !
Eut it must necessarily do this, since heresy is come
into the church." Immediately many of the lower
order of people, indeed the vulgar of all ranks, were
terrified at the- sight of so miraculous and undeniable
an evidence of the Divine displeasure ; they hasten-
ed from the church, convinced that the doctrines of
protestantism emanated from an infernal source, and
that salvation was only to be found in the bosom of
their own infallible church.

This incident, however ludicrous it may appear to
the enlightened reader, had great influence over the
minds of the ignorant Irish, and answered the ends
of the impudent impostors who contrived it, so far as
to check the progress of the reformed religion in Ire-
land very materially ; many persons could not resist
the conviction that there were many errors and cor-
ruptions in the Romish church, but they were awed
into silence by this pretended manifestation of Divine
wrath, which was magnified beyond measure by the
bigoted and interested priesthood.

We have very few particulars as to the state of re-
ligion in Ireland during the remaining portion of the
reign of Edward YL, and the greater part of that of
Mary. Towards the conclusion of the barbarous
sway of that relentless bigot, she attempted to extend
her inhuman persecutions to this island ; but her
diabolical intentions were happily frustrated in the
following providential manner, the particulars of
which are related by historians of good authority.

Mary had appointed Dr. Cole, (an agent of the
blood-thirsty Bonner,) one of the commissioners for
carrying her barbarous intentions into effect. He

REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 407

having arrived at Chester with his commission, the
mayor of that city, being a papist, waited upon him ;
when the doctor taking out of his cloak-bag a leath-
ern case, said to him, " Here is a commission that
shall lash the heretics of Ireland." The good woman
of the house being a protestant, and having a brother
in Dublin, named John Edmunds, was greatly trou-
bled at what she heard. But watching her oppor-
tunity, whilst the mayor was taking his leave, and
the doctor politely accompanying him down stairs,
she opened the box, took out the commission, and in
its stead laid a sheet of paper, with a pack of cards,
and the knave of clubs at top. The doctor, not sus-
pecting the trick that had been played him, put up
the box, and arrived with it in Dublin, in September,
1558.

Anxious to accomplish the intentions of his "jiwus"
mistress, he immediately waited upon lord Fitz- Wal-
ter, at that time viceroy, and presented the box to
him ; which being opened, nothing was found in it
but a pack of cards. This startling all the persons
present, his lordship said, " We must procure another
commission ; and in the mean time let us shuffle the
cards !"

Dr. Cole, however, would have directly returned to
England to get another commission ; but waiting for
a favourable wind, news arrived that queen Mary was
dead, and by this means the protestants escaped a most
cruel persecution. The above relation, as we before
observed, is confirmed by historians of the greatest
credit, who add, that queen Elizabeth settled a pen-
sion of forty pounds per annum upon the above men-
tioned Elizabeth Edmunds, for having thus saved the
lives of her protestant subjects.

During the reigns of Elizabeth and of James I.
Ireland was almost constantly agitated by rebellions
and insurrections, which, although not always taking
their rise from the difference of religious opinions
between the English and Irish, were aggravated and

408 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

rendered more bitter and irreconcilable from that
cause. The popish priests artfully exaggerated the
faults of the English government, and continually
urged to their ignorant and prejudiced hearers the
lawfulness of killing the protestants, assuring them
that all Catholics who were slain in the prosecution
of so pious an enterprise, would be immediately re
ceived into everlasting felicity. The naturally un-
governable dispositions of the Irish, acted upon by
these designing men, drove them into continual acts
of barbarous and unjustifiable violence ; and it must
be confessed that the unsettled and arbitrary nature
of the authority exercised by the English governors,
was but little calculated to gain their affections. The
Spaniards, too, by landing forces in the south, and
giving every encouragement to the discontented na-
tives to join their standard, kept the island in a con-
tinual state of turbulence and warfare. In 1601 they
disembarked a body of 4000 men at Kinsale, and com-
menced what they called " the holy war, for the
preservation of the faith in Ireland ;" they were as-
sisted by great numbers of the Irish, but were at
length totally defeated by the deputy, lord Mount joy,
and his officers.

This closed the transactions of Elizabeth's reign
with respect to Ireland ; an interval of apparent tran-
quillity followed, but the popish priesthood, ever rest-
less and designing, sought to undermine by secret
machinations, that government and that faith which
they durst no longer openly attack. The pacific
reign of James afforded them the opportunity of in-
creasing their strength and maturing their schemes ;
and under his successor, Charles I., their numbers
were greatly increased by titular Romish archbishops,
bishops, deans, vicars-general,, abbots, priests, and
friars ; for which reason, in 1629, the public exer-
cise of the popish rites and ceremonies was for-
bidden.

But notwithstanding this, soon afterwards the Ro-

IRISH MASSACRE. 409

mish clergy erected a new popish university in the
city of Dublin. They also proceeded to build mo-
nasteries and nunneries in various parts of the king-
dom ; in which places these very Romish clergy, and
the chiefs of the Irish, held frequent meetings ; and,
from thence, used to pass to and fro, to France, Spain,
Flanders, Lorraine, and Rome ; where the detestable
plot of 1641 was hatching by the family of the O'Neals
and their followers.

A short time before the horrid conspiracy broke
out, which we are now going to relate, the papists
in Ireland had presented a remonstrance to the lords-
justices of that kingdom, demanding the free exer-
cise of their religion, and a repeal of all laws to the
contrary ; to which both houses of parliament in Eng-
land solemnly answered, that they would never grant
any toleration to the popish religion in that kingdom.

This farther irritated the papists to put in execu-
tion the diabolical plot concerted for the destruction
of the protestants; and it failed not of the success
wished for by its malicious and rancorous projectors.

The design of this horrid conspiracy was, that a
general insurrection should take place at the same
time throughout the kingdom ; and that all the pro-
testants, without exception, should be murdered. The
day fixed for this horrid massacre, was the 23d of Oc-
tober, 1641, the feast of Ignatius Loyola, founder of
the Jesuits ; and the chief conspirators, in the prin-
cipal parts of the kingdom, made the necessary pre-
parations for the intended conflict

In order that this detested scheme might the more
infallibly succeed, the most distinguished artifices
were practised by the papists ; and their behaviour,
in their visits to the protestants, at this time, was
with more seeming kindness than they had hitherto
shown, which was done the more completely to effect
the inhuman and treacherous designs then meditating
against them.

35

410 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

r The execution of this savage conspiracy was de-
layed till the approach of winter, that sending troops
from England might be attended with greater diffi-
culty. Cardinal Richlieu, the French minister, had
promised the conspirators a considerable supply of
men and money; and many Irish officers had given
the strongest assurances that they would heartily con-
cur with their Catholic brethren, as soon as the in-
surrection took place.

The day preceding that appointed for carrying this
horrid design into execution was now arrived, when,
happily for the metropolis of the kingdom, the con-
spiracy was discovered by one Owen O'Connelly, an
Irishman, for which most jsignal service the English
parliament voted him 500/., and a pension of 2002.
during his life.

So very seasonably was this plot discovered, even
but a few hours before the city and castle of Dublin
were to have been surprised, that the lords-justices
had but just time to put themselves and the city in
a proper posture of defence. The lord M'Guire,
who was the principal leader here, with his accom-
plices, were seized the same evening in the city ; and
in their lodgings were found swords, hatchets, pole-
axes, hammers, and such other instruments of death
as had been prepared for the destruction and extir-
pation of the protestants in that part of the kingdom.

Thus was the metropolis happily preserved ; but
the bloody part of the intended tragedy was past pre-
vention. The conspirators were in arms all over the
kingdom early in the morning of the day appointed,
and every protestant who fell in their way was im-
mediately murdered. No age, no sex, no condition,
was spared. The wife, weeping for her butchered
husband, and embracing her helpless children, was
pierced with them, and perished by the same stroke.
The old, the young, the vigorous, and the infirm, un-
derwent the same fate, and were blended in one com-
mon ruin. In vain did flight save from the first as-

.IRISH MASSACRE. 411

sault: destruction *was. every where let loose, and
met the hunted victims at every turn. In vain was
recourse had to relations, to companions, to friends :
all connexions were dissolved, and death was dealt
by that hand, from which protection was implored
and expected. Without provocation, without oppo-
sition, the astonished English, living in profound
peace, and, as they thought, full security, were mas-
sacred by their nearest neighbours, with whom they
had long maintained a continued intercourse of kind-
ness and good offices. Nay, even death was the
slightest punishment inflicted by these monsters in
human form ; all the tortures which wanton cruelty
could invent, all the lingering pains of body, the an-
guish of mind, the agonies of despair, could not sa-
tiate revenge excited without injury, and cruelty de-
rived from no just cause whatever. Depraved na-
ture, even perverted religion, though encouraged by
the. utmost license, cannot reach to a greater pitch
of ferocity than appeared in these merciless barba-
rians. Even the weaker sex themselves, naturally
tender to their own sufferings, and compassionate to
those of others, here emulated their robust compa-
nions in the practice of every cruelty. The very
children, taught by example, and encouraged by the
exhortations of their parents, dealt their feeble blows
on the dead carcasses of defenceless children of the
English.

Nor was the avarice of the Irish sufficient to pro-
duce the least restraint on their cruelty. Such was
their frenzy, that the cattle they had seized, and by
rapine had made their own, were, because they bore
the name of English, wantonly slaughtered, or, when
covered with wounds, turned loose into the woods,
there to perish by slow and lingering torments.

The commodious habitations of the planters were
laid in ashes, or levelled with the ground. And where
the wretched owners had shut themselves up in the
houses and were preparing for defence, they per-

412 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

ished in the flames, together with their wives and
children.

Such is the general description of this unparalleled
massacre ; but it now remains, from the nature of our
work, that we proceed to particulars.

The bigoted and merciless papists had no sooner
begun to imbrue their hands in blood, than they re-
peated the horrid tragedy day after day; and thepro-
testants in all parts of the kingdom fell victims to
their fury by deaths of the most unheard-of cruelty.

The ignorant Irish were more "strongly instigated
to execute the infernal business by the Jesuits, priests,
, and friars, who, when the day for the execution of
the plot was agreed on, recommended in their prayers,
diligence in the great design, which they said would
greatly tend to the prosperity of the kingdom, and to
the advancement of the Catholic cause. They every
where declared to the common people, that the pro-
testants were heretics, and ought not to be suffered
to live any longer among them ; adding, that it was
no more sin to kill an Englishman than to kill a dog;
and that the relieving or protecting them was a crime
of the most unpardonable nature.

The papists having besieged the town and castle
of Longford, and the inhabitants of the former, who
were protestants, surrendering on condition of being
allowed quarter, the besiegers, the instant the towns-
people appeared, attacked them in the most unmer-
ciful manner, their priest, as a signal for the rest to
fall on, first ripping open the belly of the English pro-
testant minister ; after which his followers murdered
all the rest, some of whom they hung, others were
stabbed or shot, and great numbers knocked on the
head with axes provided for the purpose.

The garrison of Sligo was treated in like manner
by O'Connor Slygah ; who, upon the protestants quit-
ting their holds, promised them quarter, and to con-
vey them safe over the Curlew mountains, to Ros-
common. But he first imprisoned them in a most

IRISH MASSACRE. 413

loathsome jail, allowing* them only grains for their
food. Afterwards, when some papists were merry-
over their cups, who were come to congratulate their
wicked brethren for their victory over these unhappy
creatures, those protestants who survived were
brought forth by the white friars, and were either
killed, or precipitated over the bridge into a swift
water, where they were soon destroyed. It is added,
that this wicked company of white friars went some
time after in solemn procession, with holy water in
their hands, to sprinkle the river, on pretence of
cleansing and purifying it from the stains and pollu-
tion of the blood and dead bodies of the heretics, as
they called the unfortunate protestants who were in-
humanly slaughtered at this time.

At Kilmore, Dr. Bedel, bishop of that see, had
charitably settled and supported a great number of
distressed protestants, who had fled from their habi-
tations to escape the diabolical cruelties committed
by the papists. But they did not long enjoy the con-
solation of living together ; the good prelate was
forcibly dragged from his episcopal residence, which
was immediately occupied by Dr. Swiney, the popish
titular bishop of Kilmore, who said mass in the
church the Sunday following, and then seized all the
goods and effects belonging to the persecuted bishop.

Soon after this, the papists forced Dr. Bedel, his
two sons, and the rest of his family, with some of the
chief of the protestants whom he had protected, into
a ruinous castle, called Lochwater, situated in a lake
near the sea. Here he remained with his companions
some weeks, all of them daily expecting to be put to
death. The greater part of them were stripped
naked, by which means, as the season was cold, (it
being in the month of December,) and the building
in which they were confined open at the top, they
suffered the most severe hardships.

They continued in this situation till the 7th of
January, when they were all released. The bishop

35*

414 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

was courteously received into the house of Dennis
O'Sheridan, one of his clergy, whom he had made a
convert to the church of England ; but he did not
long survive this kindness.

Daring his residence here, he spent the whole of
his time in religious exercises, the better to fit and
prepare himself, and his sorrowful companions, for
their great change, as nothing but certain death was
perpetually before their eyes.

He was at this time in the 7ist year of his age,
and being afflicted with a violent ague caught in his
late cold and desolate habitation on the lake, it soon
threw him into a fever of the most dangerous nature.
Finding his dissolution at hand, he received it with
joy, like one of the primitive martyrs just hastening
to his crown of glory. After having addressed his
little flock, and exhorted them to patience, in the
most pathetic manner, as they saw their own last
day approaching; after having solemnly blessed his
people, his family, and his children, he finished the
course of his ministry and life together, on the 7th of
February, 1642.

His friends and relations applied to the intruding
bishop, for leave to bury him, which was with great
difficulty obtained ; he at first telling them, that
the church-yard was holy ground, and should be no
longer defiled with heretics : however, leave was at
last granted, and though the church funeral service
was not used at the solemnity, (for fear of the papists,)
yet some of the better sort, who had the highest
veneration for him when living, attended his remains
to the grave. At his interment they discharged a
volley of shot, crying out, Requiescat in pace ultimus
Anglorum: that is, "May the last of the English rest
in peace." Adding, that as he was one of the best,
so he should be the last English bishop found among
them.

His learning was very extensive ; and he would
have given the world a greater proof of it, had he

IRISH MASSACRE. 415

printed all he wrote. Scarce any of his writings
were saved ; the papists having destroyed most of his
papers and his library.

He had gathered a vast heap of critical expositions
of Scripture, all which, with a great trunk full of his
manuscripts, fell into the hands of the Irish. Hap-
pily his great Hebrew MS. was preserved, and is now
in the library of Emanuel college, Oxford.

In the barony of Terawley, the papists, at the in-
stigation of their friars, compelled above 40 English
protestants, some of whom were women and children,
to the hard fate either of falling by the sword, or of
drowning in the sea. These choosing the latter,
were accordingly forced, by the naked weapons of
their inexorable persecutors, into the deep, where,
with their children in their arms, they first waded up
to their chins, and afterwards sunk down and perish-
ed together.

In the castle of Lisgool, upwards of 150 men, wo-
men, and children, were all burnt together ; and at
the castle of Moneah, not less than 106 were put to
the sword. Great numbers were also murdered at
the castle of Tullah, which was delivered up to M'-
Guire, on condition of having fair quarter ; bnt no
sooner had that base villain got possession of the
place, than he ordered his followers to murder the
people, which was immediately done with the greatest
cruelty.

Many others were put to deaths of the most horrid
nature, and such as could have been invented only
by demons instead of men.

Some of them were laid with the centre of their
backs on the axletree of a carriage, with their legs
resting on the ground on one side, and ther arms
and head on the other. In this position one of the
savages scourged the wretched object on the thighs,
les:s,&c.,Avhile another set on furious dogs, who tore to
pieces the arms and upper parts of the body; and in this
dreadful maimer were they deprived of their existence.

416 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Great numbers were fastened to horses' tails, and
the beasts being set on full gallop by their riders, the
wretched victims were dragged along till they expired.

Others were hung on lofty gibbets, and a fire being
kindled under them, they finished their lives, partly
by hanging, and partly by suffocation.

Nor did the more tender sex escape the least par
tide of cruelty that could be projected by their mer-
ciless and furious persecutors. Many women, of all
ages, were put to deaths of the most cruel nature.
Some, in particular, were fastened with their backs
to strong posts, and being stripped to the waist, the
inhuman monsters cut off their right breasts with
shears, which, of course, put them to the most ex-
cruciating torments ; and in. this position they were
left till from the loss of blood they expired.

Such was the savage ferocity of these barbarians,
that even unborn infants were dragged from the womb
to become victims to their rage. Many unhappy mo-
thers were hung naked on the branches of trees, and
their bodies being cut open, the innocent offspring
was taken from them, and thrown to dogs and swine.
And to increase the horrid scene, they would oblige
the husband to he a spectator before he suffered him-
self.

At the town of Lissenskeath, they hanged above 100
Scottish protestants, showing them no more mercy
than they did to the English.

M'Guire, going to the castle of that town, desired
to speak with the governor, when being admitted, he
immediately burnt the records of the county, which
were kept there. He "then demanded 1000/. of the
governor, which having received, he immediately com-
pelled him to hear mass, and to swear that he would
continue so to do. And to complete his horrid bar-
barities, he ordered the wife and children of the gover-
nor to be hungup before his face ; besides massacring
at least 100 of the inhabitants.

Upwards of 1000 men, women, and children, were

IRISH MASSACRE. 417

driven, in different companies, to Portendown bridge,
which was broken in the middle, and there compel-
led to throw themselves into the water ; and such as
attempted to reach the shore were knocked on the
head.

In the same part of the country, at least 4000 per-
sons were drowned in different places. The inhu-
man papists, after first stripping them, drove them
like beasts to the spot fixed for their destruction ; and
if any, through fatigue, or natural infirmities, were
slack in their pace, they pricked them with their
swords and pikes ; and to strike a farther terror on
-the multitude, they murdered some by the way. Ma-
ny of these poor creatures, when thrown into the wa-
ter, endeavoured to save themselves by swimming to
the shore ; but their merciless persecutors prevented
their endeavours taking effect, by shooting them in
the water.

In one place 140 English, after being driven for
many miles stark naked, and in the most severe wea-
ther, were all murdeied on the same spot, some being
hanged, others burnt, some shot, and many of them
buried alive ; and so cruel were their tormentors, that
they would not suffer them to pray before they robbed
them of their miserable existence.

Other companies they took under pretence of safe
conduct, who, from that consideration, proceeded
cheerfully on their journey ; but when the treacher-
ous papists had got them to a convenient spot, they
butchered them all in the most cruel manner.

One hundred and fifteen men, women, and child-
ren, were conducted, by order of sir Phelim O'Neal,
to Portendown bridge, where they were all forced
into the river, and drowned. One woman, named
Campbell, finding no probability of escaping, sudden-
ly clasped one of the chief of the papists in her arms,
and held him so fast, that they were both drowned
together.

In Killoman they massacred 4S families, among

418 ROOK OF MARTYRS.

whom 22 were burnt together in one house. The rest
were either hanged, shot, or drowned.

In Killmore the inhabitants, which consisted of
about 200 families, all fell victims to their rage. Some
of the protestants were set in the stocks till they con-
fessed where their money was ; after which they were
put to death. The whole country was one common
scene of butchery, and many thousands perished, in a
short time, by sword, famine, fire, water, and all other
the most cruel deaths that rage and malice could in-
vent.

These inhuman villains showed so much favour
to some as to despatch them immediately ; but they
would by no means suffer them to pray. Others they
imprisoned in filthy dungeons, putting heavy bolts on
their legs, and keeping them there till they were starv-
ed to death.

At Cashel they put all the protestants into a loath-
some dungeon, where they kept them together for
several weeks in the greatest misery. At length they
were released, when some of them were barbarously
mangled, and left on the highways to perish at lei-
sure; others were hanged, and some were buried in
the ground upright, with their heads above the earth,
the papists, to increase their 'misery, treating them
with derision during their sufferings.

In the county of Antrim they murdered 954 pro-
testants in one morning ; and afterwards about 1200
more in that county.

At a town called Lisnegary, they forced 24 protes-
tants into a house, and then setting fire to it, burned
them together, counterfeiting their outcries in deri-
sion to others.

Among other acts of cruelty, they took two children
belonging to an Englishwoman, and dashed out their
brains before her face : after which they threw the mo-
ther into a river, and she was drowned. They served
many other children in the like manner, to the great
affliction of their parents, and the disgrace of human
nature.

IRISH MASSACRE. 419

In Kilkenny all the protestants. without exception,
were put to death ; and some of them in so cruel a
manner, as, perhaps, was never before thought of

They beat an Englishwoman with such savage bar-
barity, that she had scarce a whole bone left ; after
which they threw her into a ditch ; but not satisfied
with this, they took her child, a girl about six years
of age, and after ripping up its belly, threw it to its
mother, there to languish till it perished.

They forced one man to go to mass, after which
they ripped open his body, and in that manner left
him. They sawed another asunder, cut the throat
of his wife, and after having dashed out the brains of
their child, an infant, threw it to the swine, who gree-
dily devoured it.

After committing these and many other horrid cru-
elties, they took the heads of seven protestants, and
among them that of a pious minister, all which they
fixed up at the market cross. They put a gag into
the minister's mouth, then slit his cheeks to his ears,
and laying a leaf of a Bible before it, bid him preach,
for his mouth was wide enough. They did several
other things by way of derision, and expressed the
greatest satisfaction at having thus murdered and ex-
posed the unhappy protestants.

It is impossible to conceive the pleasure these mon-
sters took in exercising their cruelty; and to increase
the misery of those who fell into their hands, while
they were butchering them, they would cry, u Your
soul to the devil ! w

One of the miscreants would come into a house
with his hands imbrued in blood, and boast that it was
English blood, and that his sword had pricked the
white skin of the protestants, even to the hilt.

When any one of them had killed a protestant,
others would come and receive a gratification in cut-
ting and mangling the body; after which they left it
to be devoured by dogs ; and when they had slain a

420 BOOK OP MARTYRS.

number of them, they would boast that the devil was
beholding to them for sending so many souls to hell !

But it is no wonder that they should thus treat the
innocent Christians, when they hesitated not to commit
blasphemy against God and his most holy word.

In one place they burnt two protestant Bibles, and
then said they had burnt hell-fire. In the church at
Powersconrt, they burnt the pulpit, pews, chests, and
Bibles belonging to it. They took other Bibles, and,
after wetting them with dirty water, dashed them in
the faces of the protestants, saying, "We know you
love a good lesson ; here is an excellent one for you ;
come to-morrow, and you shall have as good a sermon
as this."

Some of the protestants they dragged by the hair
of their heads into the church, where they stripped
and whipped them in the most cruel manner, telling
them, at the same time, " That if they came to-mor-
row, they should hear the like sermon."

In Munster they put to death several ministers in
the most shocking manner. One, in particular, they
stripped stark naked, and driving him before them,
pricked him with swords and pikes till he fell down
and expired.

In some places they plucked out the eyes and cut
off the hands of the protestants, and in that condition
turned them intothe fields, there to linger out the re-
mainder of their miserable existence.

They obliged many young men to force their aged
parents to a river, where they were drowned; wives
to assist in hanging their husbands ; and mothers to
cut the throats of their children.

In one place they compelled a young man to kill
his father, and then immediately hanged him. In
another they forced a woman to kill her husband,
then obliged her son to kill her, and afterwards shot
him through the head.

At a place called Glasgow, a popish priest, with
some'others, prevailed on 40 protestants to be recon-

IRISH MASSACRE. 421

ciled to the church of Rome, under the vain hope of
saving their lives. They had no sooner done this,
than the deceivers told them they were in a good
faith j and that they would prevent their falling from
it, and turning heretics, by sending them out of the
world ; which they did by immediately cutting their
throats.

In the county of Tipperary a great number of pro-
testants, men, women, and children, fell into the
hands of the papists, who, after stripping them naked,
murdered them with stones, pole-axes, swords, and
other weapons.

In the county of Mayo about 60 protestants, 15 of
whom were ministers, were, upon covenant, to be
safely conducted to Gal way, by one Edmund Burke
and his soldiers ; but that inhuman monster by the
way drew his sword, as an intimation of his design to
the rest, who immediately followed his example, and
murdered the whole, some of whom they stabbed,
others were run through the body with pikes, and
several were drowned.

In Queen's county great numbers of protestants
were put to the most shocking deaths. Fifty or sixty
were confined together in one house, which being
set on fire, they all perished in the flames.

Many were stripped naked, and being fastened to
horses by ropes placed round their middles, were
dragged through bogs till they expired.

Some were hung by the feet to tenter-hooks driven
into poles, and in that wretched posture left till they
perished.

Others were fastened to the trunk of a tree, with
a branch at the top. Over this branch hung one
arm, which principally supported the weight of the
body ; and one of the legs was turned up and fasten-
ed to the trunk, while the other hung straight. In
this dreadful and uneasy posture did they remain, as
long as life would permit, pleasing spectacles to their
blood-thirsty persecutors.

36

422 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

At Clownes 17 men were buried alive ; .and an
Englishman; his wife, five children, and a servant
maid, were all hung together, and afterwards thrown
into a ditch.

They hung many by the arms to branches of
trees, with a weight to their feet ; and others by the
middle, in which postures they left them till they
expired.

Several were hung on windmills, and before they
were half dead, the barbarians cut them in pieces
with their swords. Others, both men, women, and
children, they cut and hacked in various parts of
their bodies, and left them wallowing in their blood,
to perish where they fell. One poor woman they
hung on a gibbet, with her child, an infant about a
twelvemonth old, the latter of whom was hung by
the neck with the hair of its mother's head, and in
that manner finished its short but miserable existence.

In the county of Tyrone no less than 300 protes-
tants were drowned in one day ; and many others
were hanged, burned, and otherwise put to death.

Dr. Maxwell, rector of Tyrone, lived at this time
near Armagh, and suffered greatly from these merci-
less savages. This clergyman, in his examination,
taken upon oath before the king's commissioners,
declared that the Irish papists owned to him, that
they had destroyed, in one place, at Glynwood, 12,-
000 protestants, in their flight from the county of
Armagh.

As the river Bann was not fordable, and the bridge
broken down, the Irish forced thither, at different
times, a great number of unarmed defenceless pro-
testants, and with pikes and swords violently thrust
above 1000 into the river, where they miserably per-
ished.

Nor did the cathedral of Armagh escape the fury
of these barbarians, it being maliciously set on fire
by their leaders, and burnt to the ground. And to
extirpate, if possible, the very race of those unhappy

IRISH MASSACRE. 423

protestants who lived in or near Armagh, the Irish first
burned all their houses, and then gathered together
many hundreds of those innocent people, young and
old, on pretence of allowing them a guard and safe
conduct to Coleraine ; when they treacherously fell
on them by the way, and inhumanly murdered them.

The like horrid barbarities with those we have
particularized, were practised on the wretched pro-
testants in almost all parts of the kingdom ; and,
when an estimate was afterwards made of the num-
ber who were sacrificed to gratify the diabolical souls
of the papists, it amounted to 150,000. But it now
remains that we proceed to the particulars that fol-
low.

These desperate wretches, flushed and grown in-
solent with success, (though attained by methods at-
tended with such excessive barbarities as perhaps
are not to be equalled) soon got possession of the
castle of Newry, where the king's stores and ammu-
nition were lodged ; and, with as little difficulty,
made themselves masters of Dundalk. They after-
wards took the town of Ardee, where they murdered
all the protestants, and then proceeded to Drogheda.
The garrison of Drogheda was in no condition to sus-
tain a siege ; notwithstanding which, as often as the
Irish renewed their attacks, they were vigorously re-
pulsed, by a very unequal number of the king's forces,
and a few faithful protestant citizens, under Sir Hen-
ry Tichborne, the governor, assisted by lord viscount
Moore. The siege of Drogheda began on the 30th
of November, 1 041, and held till the 4th of March,
1642, when Sir Phelim O'Neal, and the Irish miscre-
ants under him, were forced to retire.

In the mean time 10,000 troops were sent from
Scotland to the relief of the remaining protestants in
Ireland, which being properly divided into various
parts of the kingdom, happily suppressed the power
of the Irish savages ; and the protestants, for several
yean*, lived in tranquillity,

424 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

After James II. had abandoned England, he main-
tained a contest for some time in Ireland, where he
did all in his power to carry on that persecution
which he had been happily prevented from persever-
ing in, in England : accordingly, in a parliament held
at Dublin, in the year 1689, great numbers of the
protestant nobility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland,
were attainted of high treason. The government of
the kingdom was, at that time, invested in the earl
of Tyrconnel, a bigoted papist, and an inveterate
enemy to the Protestants. By his orders they were
again persecuted in various parts of the kingdom.
The revenues of the city of Dublin were seized, and
most of the churches converted into prisons. And
had it not been for the resolution and uncommon
bravery of the garrisons in the city of Londonderry,
and the town of Inniskillen, there had not one place
remained for refuge to the distressed protestants in
the whole kingdom ; but all must have been given
up to king James, and to the furious popish party
that governed him.

The remarkable siege of Londonderry was opened
on the 18th of April, 1689, by 20,000 papists, the
flower of the Irish army. The city was not properly
circumstanced to sustain a siege, the defenders con-
sisting of a body of raw disciplined protestants who
had fled thither for shelter, and half a regiment of
lord Mountjoy's disciplined soldiers, with the princi-
pal part of the inhabitants, making in all only 7361
fighting men.

The besieged hoped, at first, that their stores of
corn, and other necessaries, would be sufficient ; but
by the continuance of the siege their wants increas-
ed ; and these at last became so heavy, that, for a
considerable time before the siege was raised, a pint
of coarse barley, a small quantity of greens, a few
spoonsful of starch, with a very moderate portion of
horseflesh, were reckoned a week's provision for a
soldier. And they were, at length, reduced to such
extremities, that they ate dogs, cats, and mice.

IRISH MASSACRE. 425

Their miseries increasing with the siege, many,
through mere hunger and want, pined and languished
away, or fell dead in the streets ; and it is remarka-
ble, that when their long expected succours arrived
from England, they were upon the point of being re-
duced to this alternative, either to preserve their ex-
istence by eating each other, or attempting to fight
their way through the Irish, which must have infalli-
bly produced their destruction.

These succours were most happily brought by the
ship Mountjoy, of Deny, and the Phoenix, of Cole-
raine, at which time they had only nine lean horses
left, with a pint of meal to each man. By hunger,
and the fatigues of the war, their 7361 fighting men
were reduced to 4300, one fourth part of whom were
rendered unserviceable.

As the calamities of the besieged were very great,
so likewise were the terrors and sufferings of their
protestant friends and relations; all of whom (even
women and children) were forcibly driven from the
country 30 miles round, and inhumanly reduced to
the sad necessity of continuing some days and nights,
without food or covering, before the walls of the
town ; and were thus exposed to the continual fire
both of the Irish army from without, and the shot of
their friends from within.

But the succours from England happily arriving,
put an end to their affliction ; and the siege was raised
on the 31st of July, having been continued upwards
of three months.

The day before the siege of Londonderry was
raised, the Inniskilleners engaged a body of 6000
Irish Roman Catholics, at Newton Butler, or Crown
Castle, of whom near 5000 were slain. This, with
the defeat at Londonderry, so much dispirited the
papists, that they gave up all farther attempts at that
time to persecute the protestants.

In the year following, 1690, the Irish who had
taken up arms in favour of James II., were totally de-
36*

426 ROOK OF MARTYRS.

feated by William the Third; and that monarch,
before he left the country, reduced them to a state
of subjection, in which they very long continued, at
least so far as to refrain from open violence, although
they were still insidiously engaged in increasing their
power and influence ; for by a report made in the
year 1731, it appeared, that a great number of eccle-
siastics had, in defiance of the laws, flocked into Ire-
land ; that several convents had been opened by Je-
suits, monks, and friars; that many new and pompons
mass-houses had been erected in some of the most
conspicuous parts of their great cities, where there
had not been any before ; and that such swarms of
vagrant, immoral Romish priests had appeared, that
the very papists themselves considered them as a
burden.

But, notwithstanding all the arts of priestcraft, all
the tumid and extravagant harangues of Hibernian
orators, and the gross and wilful misrepresentations
of their self-styled liberal abettors in this country,
the protestant religion now stands on a firmer basis
in Ireland, than it ever before did. The Irish, who
formerly led an unsettled and roving life, in the woods,
bogs, and mountains, and lived on the depredation
of their neighbours ; they who, in the morning seiz-
ed the prey, and at night divided the spoil, have, for
many years past, become comparatively quiet and
civilized. They taste the sweets of English society,
and the advantages of civil government.

The heads of their clans, and the chiefs of the great
Irish families, who cruelly oppressed and tyrannized
over their vassals, are now dwindled, in a great mea-
sure, to nothing ; and most of the ancient popish no-
bility and gentry of Ireland have renounced the Ro-
mish religion.

It is also to be hoped, that inestimable benefits will
arise from the establishment of protestant schools in
various parts of the kingdom, in which the children
of the Roman Catholics are instructed in religion and

ASSASSINATION PLOT. 427

literature^ whereby the mist of ignorance is dispel-
led, which was the great source of the cruel transac-
tions that have taken place, at different periods, in
that kingdom ; and this is sufficiently proved by the
fact, that those parts of the country which have been
disgraced by the most horrible outrages, are those in
which the most profound ignorance and bigotry still
prevail.

SECTION III.

It is now our task to relate another of those hor-
rible plots which will for ever disgrace the name of
Popery, and render it obnoxious to every one who
is not blinded by the specious statements of its sup-
porters — we mean the Assassination Plot, formed
for the destruction of that truly great and good mon-
arch, William III.

The Assassination Plot

The papists, whose souls were still anxious to
eclipse the power of the protestants, and to subvert
the government, had been, for some time, projecting
another scheme to answer their wished-for purposes,
and at length an opportunity offered ; but, happily
for England, it was providentially frustrated.

The intent of this diabolical scheme was, to assas-
sinate William III., and to restore James to the Eng-
lish throne. It was first projected by the French
king, and furthered by the popish emissaries in Eng-
land.

King William had been, for a considerable time,
at war with France ; and had such success as almost
to ruin and depopulate that country. This so enrag-
ed the French monarch, that he determined to make
one grand and final effort to restore, if possible, James,
his friend and ally, to the throne ; as to the success
of which they were filled with the most sanguine

428 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

hopes, by the death of queen Mary, which circum-
stance, they supposed, had greatly lessened the king's
interest in this country.

The scheme of an invasion, and the design of tak-
ing off the English monarch, were publicly mention-
ed in France in the beginning of February, 1695 ;
and it was known that Louis had sent an army to
Calais, so that nothing but a favourable opportunity
seemed wanting to begin the daring attempt.

On the 18th of February, James set out for Ca-
lais, when the troops, artillery, and stores, were or-
dered to be put on board the vessels lying there for
that purpose ; news being hourly expected from Eng-
land of the assassination being perpetrated.

In the mean time the duke of Wirtemberg, alarm-
ed at the reports current in France, despatched an
aid-de-camp to England in order to inform William
of the destruction which awaited him. The prince
of Yaudemont, then at Brussels, despatched messen-
gers with the same intelligence, adding, that he had
laid an embargo on all the ships in the harbours of
Flanders, in order to transport troops into England
for his majesty's service. But notwithstanding all
the expedition used by the duke of Wirtemberg, the
king had, some time before the arrival of his mes-
senger, received certain accounts, not only of the
intended invasion, but also of the conspiracy against
his person.

The principal persons in England concerned in the
plot for assassinating the king, were the following :
the earl of Aylesbury, lord Montgomery, son to the
marquis of Powis, sir John Fen wick, sir William
Perkins, sir John Friend, captain Charnock, captain
Porter, and Mr. Goodman.

The duke of Berwick (an illegitimate son of James
II.) had come privately over to England, in the be-
ginning of February, in order to hasten the prepara-
tions of the conspirators, whom he assured that king
James was ready to make a descent, at the head of

ASSASSINATION PLOT. 429

twenty-two thousand French troops. At the same
time, he distributed commissions, and gave directions
for procuring men, horses, and arms, for joining him
on his arrival. Various rumours were spread, with
regard to the nature of these commissions : some said
they imported nothing more than to levy war against
the prince of Orange, and all his adherents, and that
king James was totally ignorant of the more detesta-
ble part of the scheme ; while others asserted that
they related to both.

But however that may be, the conspirators, who
were several in number, besides those already men-
tioned, had held various meetings, in order to con-
cert the most proper measures for executing their
hellish design. Sir George Berkeley, a native of
Scotland, a person of undaunted courage, close, cau-
tious, and circumspect, though a furious bigot to the
church of Rome, came over in January with a pri-
vate commission from king James, by virtue where-
of, the party in England were implicitly to obey his
orders. This person undertook the detestable task
of murdering the king, with the assistance of forty
horsemen, furnished by the conspirators. Various
methods were at first proposed for effecting this pur-
pose ; but it was at last determined to attack the king
on his return from Richmond, where he usually hunt-
ed every Saturday. The place pitched upon was
the lane leading from Brentford to Turnham Green.
Perhaps a place more likely could not be found ; for
his majesty generally returning late from *h* *-— —
usually crossed tho f^ n -- - -
his guards, *' '
he lan^
Co-

430 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Nor were the time and place more artfully con-
trived, than the disposition and arrangement of the
men : for, having secured several places in Brent-
ford, Turnham-Green, and other houses in the neigh-
bourhood, to put up their horses, till the king return-
ed from hunting, one of the conspirators was ordered
to wait at the ferry till the guards appeared on the
Surry side of the water ; and then to give speedy no-
tice to the rest, that they might be ready at their re-
spective posts, while the king was crossing the river.
In order to this, they were divided into three parties,
who were to make their approaches by three differ-
ent ways ; one from Turnham-Green, another from
the lane leading to the Thames, and a third from the
road leading through Brentford. One of these par-
ties was to attack the king's guards in the front, an-
other in the rear, while ten or twelve of the most
daring and resolute were to assassinate his majesty
by firing their blunderbusses at him through the coach
windows. It was also agreed, that when the bloody
purpose was accomplished, the conspirators should
form one body, and continue their route to Hammer-
smith, and there divide themselves into small parties
of three or four, and make the best of their way to
Dover, where the sudden landing of the French would
secure them from the rage of the populace, and the
hand of justice. Sir George Berkeley complaining
that the money he had brought over with him was
so nearly exhausted, that the remainder was not sufrl-

-* f o furnish forty horses, the only necessaries
-~ *v» ev agreed that he should
*'%m Perkins,
-•st.

the

ASSASSINATION PLOT. 431

met, and agreed to be in readiness on the Saturday
following. Just as they were setting out, they re-
ceived intelligence from Chambers and Durant, two
of their accomplices, that the guards were all come
back in great haste, and that there was a whisper
among the people, that a horrid plot was discovered.
This news put the conspirators into the utmost con-
sternation, and they immediately dispersed.

The conspiracy was discovered in the following
manner : captain Porter, the day before the scheme
was to have been put into execution, divulged the
whole plot to an intimate friend of his, named Pen-
dergrass, whom he solicited to be one of their num-
ber. Pendergrass seemingly complied ; but, struck
with horror at the atrociousness of the crime, he in-
stantly acquainted the earl of Portland with the
scheme, and desired he might be introduced to the
king, which being complied with, he fully made,
known to him all the particulars he knew of this hor-
rid conspiracy, and, after many entreaties from the
king, added to a solemn promise that he should not
be produced as an evidence without his own consent,
he gave in a list of the assassins.

A proclamation was now issued for apprehending
the conspirators, and most of them were secured, but
Berkeley found means to escape. Admiral Russel
was ordered to Chatham, to hasten the £eet out to
sea. The rendezvous was appointed in the Downs,
to which place ah the men of war, then in the sea-
ports, were ordered to sail. T'hic wo~ ««*wnniioi-w^
with such ex* -
ty sail ha**
over t^
a* T

432 BOOK OF MARTYRS.

On the 24th of February, the king went to the
House of Peers, and in a speech to both houses, in
formed them of the conspiracy, and intended inva-
sion. In a very affectionate and loyal address,* they
congratulated him on his escape from the designs of
his enemies ; declared their abhorrence of such vil-
lanous attempts ; and solemnly promised to assist
his majesty, and defend his royal person against all
his enemies, declared and private. They likewise
drew up an association to the same purpose, which
was signed by all the members. . From the parlia-
ment the association was carried to every part of the
kingdom, and signed by all ranks of people. The
bishops drew up a particular form, but in the same
spirit, which was subscribed to by the greater part
of the clergy.

.Thus was this horrid conspiracy happily frustrat-
ed, and the authors of it brought to that condign
punishment which their infamy merited. The king's
life was the security of his subjects, who heartily re-
joiced, as they had reason to do, in being thereby
preserved from the miseries of popery and arbitrary
government.

/i A